Escape
by Thebestjeans
Summary: Lucy wanted to get away from her old life and her father, but couldn't. That is, until a mysterious boy helps out in her time of need and leads her towards her 'fairy tail' ending.
1. Chapter 1- The station

Hi guys! i've been meaning to write a fanfic for a long time now, so when i wrote this story for school i realized the characters matched those of fairy tail perfectly! i really hope you like it! i wont force you to review, but i would really like it! hope you enjoy!

and i suppose i should put in a disclaimer... soooooooo... i own the plot but unfortunatly not the characters.. so... ya

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><p>Death. It's one word, but it means everything, some think of it as separation, pain, heartbreak. I think it looks like a way out.<p>

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to kill myself, all suicide would accomplish is getting my father sympathy and the idiots at my school something to gossip about. I mean, if I died, who would keep my little sister from turning into one of the heartless jerks who fill this town? But strangely that reason hasn't kept me from running away, or as I should say, trying to run away.

It seems that no matter how much I prepare for my escape, or how far I make it, my father is always one

step ahead of me. This time I managed to get about a kilometre out of the town limits before the cops

showed up and gave me a lift to the station. They led me into the newly re-furbished waiting room. It looked a lot better than it usually did. The walls (which were usually filled with holes and scribbles) were now a rich blue colour. And there were new magazines on the low coffee table. I was glad, the old magazines were dated over a year before. There were also several new chars lined up against the walls. the

only reason I actually cared about how the place looked was because:

I spend a lot of time here

And

My dad was probably the one who paid for all of it.

It would certainly explain why the cops are always siding with him. Stupid, untrustworthy policemen, it's like you can't trust anyone but yourself here. Luckily my favourite blue chair was still there amongst the new ones, so I picked up a magazine and plopped down. I opened the book and read until my dad arrived. When he entered the room I could practically see the fire in his eyes. As dad made his way across the room, I noticed one of the officers bringing in a guy I had never seen before, the boy seemed to be around my age, tall, dark hair, and a handsome face. But despite his attractive appearance, he had a cold aura around him that said: 'I'm a loner, I don't want to talk.' I was still looking at the boy when dad started yelling at me. Every time I end up there, he gives me the same lecture. If I wanted to, I could probably recite it to myself and same him the trouble. The boy looked over his shoulder and gave me a blank stare that sent shivers through my whole body. As the policeman led him off, I wondered why he was even in here, it could have been anything, he could have-"Lucy! Are you even listening to me?" Damn.

He was still at it as we exited the building and got into the old Cadillac, 'blah, blah, blah insolence, blah, blah, blah uncivilized, blah, blah, blah etc.' if this happened to Gajeel, he wouldn't have been talking for more than five minutes. He always preferred my older brother to me or Wendy. The perfect twenty-year old son, business degree in university, just as successful as _he _ever was. At least he treats Wendy decently; she doesn't deserve to be treated like dad treats me. When I think about it, I don't really deserve to be treated like this either, but my dad has the twisted impression that it's my fault that mum died.

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><p>It was roughly six years ago, Wendy was barely a year old, Gajeel was fourteen, I was nine. We were all sitting at the table eating breakfast, my plate was stacked high with warm, perfectly browned pancakes, Gajeel had a large bowl of cereal and both my parents were eating plain bagels with black coffee. I was a few bites into my breakfast when I realized I needed something to drink; I got down from my chair and started towards the refrigerator. My jerk of a brother must have seen what I was doing, because leapt to the floor, sprinted past me, opened the door and drank what was left of the milk straight from the carton. I gave him the dirtiest I could muster, all he did was stick his tongue in my face and say,<p>

"Ya snooze ya loose twerp!" he then walked back to the table and went back to his cereal. I looked over at dad, who was reading the business section of the daily newspaper, he would be no help in this case. I closed the fridge and shuffled to my seat, mum cleared her throat, and we all looked up at her. She spoke to dad, "it seems we're out of milk, I'm going to take Lucy to the store to get some more." She gave me a wink, I don't think I've ever loved her as much as I did at that moment, "but Layla"- my dad started- "we're in the middle of breakfast!" "It won't take more than a few minutes" my mom replied with a smile, she was right, I mean the store was only a couple blocks away. My father eventually agreed, so me and mum grabbed our shoes and left the house.

As we strolled down the walk I took a moment to take in how beautiful my mother was; warm brown eyes, detailed features, full lips and fine blonde hair. Out of the three of her children, I was the only one to inherit her hair. She noticed me staring and turned to look at me, she chuckled and I gave her a loving smile.

That was when all heck broke loose.

In what must have been seconds, my mother's laughter, which had often reminded me of a bird's song, turned into a shriek of horror, she pushed me away, I fell flat on my face. And when I got up there was a truck where I was standing moments before.

My mother was nowhere in sight.

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><p>I don't remember much after that; I can only guess that my brain is cutting off the painful memories. Although, I can still roughly see somebody coming out of a house, sirens and, I remember someone screaming… It may have been me. Everything is blurry, except for one exceptionally clear memory; dad had just appeared on the scene, and paramedics were taking care of the men in the vehicle and examining mums body. He looked mum, then me, never in my life had I seen dad look so devastated, the next words that came out of his mouth have haunted me ever since.<p>

"It should have been you."

That's all he said, he didn't say it angrily, or sadly, he just… said it.

And so here we are six years later, everything has changed. Dad expanded his business and made enough money so that we could move into the rich part of the country. My brother no longer wanted to be around the family, my little sister who used to be a happy bouncy baby was now a young girl who mostly kept to herself, her best friend? A stuffed cat named Charles.

And the little nine-year old girl, who wanted nothing more than a glass of milk that warm summer morning, was long gone.


	2. Chapter 2-I hate Mondays

Hi guys! sorry the story is kinda slow in progressing but im going to put gray into the next chapter so don't worry Jon. at least this chapter is longer. but please! reveiw review review please please!

disclaimer: i don't own the characters blah blah blah

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><p>Since dad was steaming downstairs in his study I decided that it would be a good time to sneak into my room. As i made my way down the hallway, I passed Wendy's room. I could hear her murmuring to Charles about something or other, probably wondering if I managed to escape. Even though she loves me very much and would hate to lose me, she understands how much I hate it here and she doesn't want me to suffer. Whenever she sees me in the morning after one of my attempts for freedom, her expression is a mix of joy and sadness. It's hard to describe but my heart feels like its being ripped into a hundred pieces every time I see it.<p>

When I opened my door I was overcome with a wave of disappointment, last time I was in there I promised myself I wouldn't be back, so just seeing it again made me feel like my whole world was crumbling in on itself. The unmade bed, the clothes strewn across the floor, the computer on screensaver and my over-loved rabbit doll, just looking at them made me want to cry. Not even bothering to change clothes, I crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over my head. Wishing, hoping that I wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow and endure the endless taunting.

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><p>I couldn't seem to find my alarm clock the next morning, so I just let it ring until it timed out. As I rolled out of bed and tried to unsuccessfully shield my eyes from the harsh light of the morning sun I realized that it was Monday.<p>

"Great! Now I get to spend seven hours of my day in a building where everybody hates me, what fun." I grumbled.

I stumbled into my bathroom, peeled off my clothes and stepped into the shower, the hot water on my sore muscles felt fantastic! It almost killed me to get out, but I knew if I was late for class, Mr. Briers would make my day like a living hell.

So I wrapped a towel around myself and walked over to my dresser, I rummaged through my drawers and after what seemed like forever I managed to find an outfit to wear.

I slipped on a short black skirt with leggings and a dark purple halter top, I know that it sounds kind of Goth, but it's the opposite of what everyone else in that jerk school wears. And I will not give in to their idiot fashion trends. I finished the look with my trademark side ponytail and a pair of flats, happy with the finished product and opened the door and made my way down the stairs.

When I arrived at the dinner table I saw that Wendy had already finished half her breakfast, she looked so content that I forgot to prepare for the happy/sad look of pain she always managed to hit me with.

So when she looked up at me with the dreaded expression my heart shattered like glass. I tried to wash down the feeling with a glass of something, but it only made me gag when I realized that it was milk. I've hated the taste of milk ever since _**that**_ morning; I put the glass down and gave Wendy a reassuring smile,

She didn't look convinced. For a six year old she was surprisingly bright.

"Daddy caught you again didn't he?" she asked in a small voice.

I looked at the floor "yes Wen, he did."

She gave me a sad look then went back to her food.

I decided to skip breakfast that morning; I gave my sister a wave goodbye and headed towards the door.

By the time I got to the school there was only 10 minutes till the bell, I rushed to my locker and took out my books. I started to make my way to class when the 'blondes' appeared. The 'blondes' are a group of girls in the school who think they are sooo much better than the rest of us. And since the blondes only accept those who have blonde hair, many of the people in the clique have dyed their hair. They've been trying to recruit me ever since I started the 10th grade. The only reason they want me to join, is because my dad is probably on of the most powerful men in the country. If it wasn't for that, they would make it their personal mission to make my life as horrible as humanly possible. Just because I treat people who actually make their _**own**_ money, decently, and not like a piece of trash on the side of the road.

They must have decided to make another attempt at making me join because they circled around me in all their freakishly pink glory. The leader of the group (Sasha) walked through the circle to stand in front of me.

"Hello Lucy! How are you this fine Monday morning?" she warbled. I tried to repress the urge to gag.

"Hello Sasha, _**other**_ girls whom I despise,"

Sasha managed to keep her obviously fake smile on, but her eyebrow was twitching like it does when she's on the verge of losing it. I knew because of that comment, one more poor soul would be emotionally hurt that day.

"Why Lucy! What's with the sour attitude? Are you always this grouchy in the morning?"

"Only when you and your 'friends' insist on being irritating little b-"it was at that moment the school bell rang, signaling the start of homeroom.

"Well then, if you will excuse me, I don't want to be late for class." And as I was trying to get through the blondes 'interrogation' circle I gave Sasha a little shove so she would move out of the way. But it seems that I pushed just a tad too hard, she toppled over and landed on her head. When she stood up you could already see the beginning of a bruise on her perfect forehead.

"Girls! Hand. Me. A. Mirror!" one of her sidekicks conjured a small handheld mirror out of her purse. As soon as Sasha got one look at the forming blemish she let out a blood-curdling shriek that could wake the dead.

She gave me a withering glare that could probably make the strongest of men cower in fear.

"You are going to regret the moment you were born Heartfillia! Regret!" she snapped her fingers and stalked off, with her lapdogs following close behind.

As I was standing there I noticed a freshman just standing there, staring at me.

"What are you looking at? Scram!" the kid scurried off down the hall in fright.

I felt bad about what I did, but not as bad I would feel later that day.


	3. Chapter 3- Enter Gray fullbuster

hi guys! just as promised i am introducing gray in this chapter! so i hope all you reader enjoy this greatly! (i appologize for the bad grammer in this note)

and to those who freak about chocolate, i have updated... as you can.. probably...see... anyway... ON WITH THE DISCLAIMER!

disclaimer: give it a rest you siily lawyers! you cant sue me today! because... I DONT OWN THE CHARACTERS! just the genius that is the plot.

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><p>Just as I ran into the classroom, the late bell rang, Mr. Briers leaned on his desk and looked over at me with a smirk.<p>

"Why miss Heartfillia! So nice of you to join us!" he motioned towards an empty desk, "why don't you take a seat?" I took the hint, and quickly sat in the chair

"Now as I was saying-" Mr. Briers continued, "-I'm… _pleased_ to announce the arrival of a new student, he transferred here just this weekend." He pronounced the word 'pleased' with dissent and pointed towards the boy, I wondered why until I looked over at the new student.

I gave a gasp of shock as I realized it was the boy from the police station, he was wearing an old faded t-shirt and a pair of ripped black jeans. Mr. Briers first gave me a nasty look for the noise, then turned back to the boy.

"Mr. Fullbuster, you may take the seat next to Miss Heartfillia." Fullbuster nodded and walked over to the desk beside me, he looked towards the front. I risked a glance at him, he looked pretty much the same as he did at the station; handsome, tall and he still had that same aura.

His back stiffened and he looked over to face me,

"Can I help you?"

I felt my face turn red

"It's only that I remember you from the station yesterday…" his face scrunched up for a moment then I saw a look of recognition in his eyes as they went wide.

"You're the girl who was being yelled at by her father in the waiting room!" I winced.

"Yes, that's just how I want to be remembered by all who see me, 'the girl who was being yelled at by her father,' super!" I could see the sides of his mouth turn up a little and the aura seemed to warm up a bit.

The bell rang, I picked up my things and left the room.

The rest of the day I kept thinking about him, where he came from, why he's here, but mostly… why was he at the station? I was lost in thought as I put away my books, then I heard my name over the intercom. "Lucy Heartfillia to the roof, Luucy Heartfillia to the roof please!"

I looked at the speakers and wondered for what reason I was needed on the roof for.

I climbed the steps that led to the roof, my legs were starting to hurt by the time I got to the top. The moment I opened the door I was grabbed by a pair of strong arms and carried off.

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><p>I couldn't tell who was holding me hostage, but I knew that he definitely wasn't a friend. I'm sure you're wondering why, and the answer is a simple one, I don't have any friends at this school.<p>

The arms were holding me tightly enough to make me feel uncomfortable but not hurt me, but I had a feeling that things would be changing for the worse in a few moments. I was hoping, praying that my gut was wrong for once, but for some reason that can be classified as good or bad, it wasn't.

With one hand around my mouth I was unable to scream for help, so my captor pulled me over to the other side of the roof and pushed me to the ground. I got up and gave the large oaf a solid undercut, knocking him unconscious. You would think he would have a bigger tolerance for pain, but I suppose as the saying goes: the bigger they are the harder they fall.

"Angry much?" a voice asked behind me.

I turned around, ready to give the person behind this entire scheme a piece of my mind and fist.

I know I shouldn't have been surprised…. So I wasn't.

Standing behind me was none other than Sasha Boden and her entourage of 'blonde' girls.

"No Sasha, do you think that just because you made me late for homeroom, then had a large, ugly 12th grader kidnap me, that I would be angry? O wait…. YES! YES IT DOES!

Her smile faltered at my sarcastic response, "I don't think that you're in the place to be so rude Heartfillia. At the moment I control how unscathed you are when I let you go, so I would treat me with a little more respect!"

"Sasha! The day that I treat you with respect, will be the day that you give away all your money to the less fortunate." She cringed at the mere thought of it, but she soon regained her composure and looked at me with disgust.

"I had a feeling that you would say that, that's why I hired Morris over there." The meaning of her words dawned on me a second too late, as I tried to run, the beefy hands once again grabbed hold of me. Only now he was holding _**much **_tighter, I was having hard time breathing. I was hoping that the big lug would still be groggy from his 'nap', but he seemed as awake as ever, what did he have for lunch? espresso?

Sasha walked right up to me and smirked, even though she was facing me she spoke to Morris.

"Do what you have to Morris, I won't stop you. How else will I get her back for giving me this bruise and ruining my perfect complexion?

Morris squeezed tighter and tighter, I tried not to yell out because I knew that no one would come to the rescue, Sasha was too powerful and everyone was afraid of her. But I let out a squeak of pain, which only made Boden smile and her goon squeeze harder.

I was starting to see spots pop up, blocking my line of vision, for the first time in a long time I felt the emotion fear.

I saw a lone figure sneak up behind Sasha and the girls and lift up an arm.

That was when I blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4- An unexpected pillow

hi guys! sorry i was a little slow on the update! i had places to go and much much much homework to do! but the important thing is that i have now updated! i probably will be a little late on the next chapter because i have to do a huuuge report on something and i need the time... but i will be as quick as possible! and whos read the real fairy tail lately? sooooo exciting! ps. do you think that lucy and gray are ooc? please tell me!

disclaimer: if i was the real writer of fairy tail, do you really think id be spending my time writing fanfiction? but since some people just dont seem to take a hint: i don't own any of the fairy tail characters and such.

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><p>When I woke up I was laying on something soft and warm.<p>

I felt a little confused because I couldn't remember the last place I was at. So I figured I must be in my bed. I snuggled into my pillow and was just about to go back to sleep when my 'pillow' moved! I opened my eyes and realized that my head was resting on somebody's lap. I looked up and realized just who's lap I was on.

"Fullbuster! What the heck am I doing on your lap?"

"I thought that you would be slightly more comfortable here than on the concrete."

"You know very well that that's not what I meant Fullbuster." He looked down at me and sighed.

"The 'you calling me by my last name' thing is getting kind of old Lucy, my name is Gray. And I would prefer to be called as such." He stared straight in my eyes as he told me this. "Got it?"

I nodded and looked down, that's when I noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. His chest was unexpectedly well-defined for a boy his age. I had to resist the urge to reach out and trail my hand down his stomach. I had a guess that it would be as cold and hard as ice. I mentally slapped myself and looked away. "Gray?" he smiled at the use of his first name.

"Yes?"

"You're topless."

He looked down.

"Damn it! When did this happen?" then grabbed a white shirt from his bag and pulled it over his head quick as lightning. As if he'd done it a hundred times before…

"Hey Gray?" I asked, "Does that happen a lot?"

"Umm actually…" a blush started to creep upon his cheeks.

"You know how I was at the police station?"

"Ya…"

"This is the reason, public nudity."

"Oh."

There was a long, awkward silence that followed. Finally he started to speak again.

"Funny thing is, is that I didn't even notice it happening. One moment I'm walking down the sidewalk, next I'm being shoved into a police car for not wearing a shirt. Where I live, people are so used to me that that never happens."

I looked at him again, "that sounds like a nice place to live, I mean, nobody discriminating you for what you believe in or do."

He gave me a studying stare, mulling over something, and then spoke:

"Then why don't you move there? He asked.

I chuckled weakly, "Because my father would never allow it, he hates me."

"If he hates you so much then he won't care if you leave, in fact if you do it would keep you out of his way. And he wouldn't have to keep bailing you out."

I had a new found respect for Gray; I can't believe I had never thought of that! It was so simple; the answer was in front of me the entire time. I was going to leave _**with **_dad's permission!

No more sad looks from Wendy, no more running away then getting taken to the station, no more Sasha.

It sounded like heaven!

"Sooo-"I started, "what _**is**_ your town called?"

He gave me a look that could only mean he loved the place very much, and then stated:

"Fairy Tail."

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><p>hope to update asap! so wait for me!<p>


	5. Chapter 5- Goodbye

k, so i finally finished this chapter. and i appoligize about the slowness on the gralu but i kinda have to work up to it! im putting in some of that next chapter so don't worry peoples! and please! review peoples! quite a few people have added me to alerts and such but i only have like 3 reviews! how? ive been sitting on my bed waiting for some so long that my legs are starting to cramp . but enough about me and my pains, on to the disclaimer!

disclaimer: i do not own the characters in the following story all rights go to the actual writer of the manga whos name i can never remember for some strange reason...

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><p>When I got home that night I was having trouble thinking of how I was going to go around asking dad if I could move away. I could write a novel no problem, but when it came to something like this, I'm completely clueless.<p>

I took a deep breath, and marched into dad's study.

He didn't even bother to look up from the pile of paperwork on his desk, he had given me strict orders to not enter his office unless completely necessary. So when he talked he sounded very annoyed.

"Yes?"

I was nervous, but I knew that it had to be done,

"I want to move out." unfortunately it didn't come out as a question, but as a statement. I was worried that it sounded too forceful.

Dad stopped writing, and looked up, he had a pissed expression on his face.

"What. Did. You. Say?" He asked stiffly.

Yep. deffinatly too forceful, but i continued anyways.

"You heard me! I don't like living here, It's worse than hell! The only reason anyone treats me with any respect is because _**you're**_ my father!"

"If you move, you'll lose that privilege! That power over others!"

"Not if I move somewhere where I can start over, where nobody cares about that kind of thing, where they'll treat me with respect because of whom _**I**_ am! I'm leaving and you can't stop me!"

For a moment, I swear I saw something different in dad's eyes, other than the usual hate. Was it… concern? Sadness? Love?

I must have imagined it because it was soon replaced by the usual spite.

"Fine! But don't come crying back to me when they don't treat you the way you think they will." He looked back down at his work and acted as if I wasn't there. As if I was _**never**_ there.

I wasn't sure whether I should be happy or disappointed that he didn't care, but I soon brushed away the confusion as I realized that I was free! I could leave this place forever, never had to see Sasha's face again or be treated differently by the teachers. I ran up to my room and pulled out my old suitcase, opened my dresser and packed all my clothes and related items. I searched the house for some old boxes to pack the rest of my belongings in.

It took me all night, but I managed to get all my things in boxes, but there was one more thing I had to pack, my most prized possession. The manuscript of the book I was writing, it was the thing that I went to when I was sad or depressed, and it always managed to transport me from this world to the one of my dreams. I put it in a small case and locked it with the key that went with it, I was extremely protective of that book. Nobody. And I mean nobody will read that book until it's finished. End of discussion.

I looked around the room for what could be the last time, filled up with boxes and bags. The dark walls now empty of any pictures or posters that may have once hung there, the faded black carpet lacking the usual clothes thrown across it. Giving it a loving glance, I started to take the boxes down to the front foyer and into the car.

As I carried the last box to the trunk, I looked at mum's grave stone. She wasn't actually buried there, but we decided that she should be with up even though we moved.

"Guess what mum? I'm going to a place where I think I'll be happy. And it's not like the other times, I actually got dad's permission-" I gave a weak smile there- "I'll miss you and Wendy but I can't stay here anymore. Goodbye mum." I placed the box into the back, stepped into the car and drove down the driveway. I took one last look before it became too far away to see.

Goodbye dad.

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><p>REVIEW OR I WILL... um... WELL! I DON'T KNOW WHAT ILL DO SINCE I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, BUT ILL THINK OF SOMETHING! SO... JUST... REVIEW!<p> 


	6. Chapter 6- Stupid car

hey guys! finally finished this chapter! really happy! and since i have a long weekend coming up i think i might get two or three new chapter out by tues. not making any promises. and thanks for the reviews i got for last chapter (i appoligize for getting upset) and i hope that you guys can give me some more! i always need the support and ideas... and critisism if you must (jk! i love critisism! it help make my story better!) hope you guys like this chapter! ps, have you seen the last chapter of fairy tail? geez Gray seemed pissed! o and watch out for some foul mouthingness. kinda felt like it needed it. =P

discalimer: je fais pas de queue de fées propre ou un de ses personnages ( hopefully that says: i do not Fairy tail or any of its characters...)

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><p>Since I didn't know exactly where Fairy tail was, I drove over to where Gray was staying so he could take me there.<p>

I looked at the piece of paper with the address on it, strange… a motel? When I got there it took me a while to find the right room number, but I eventually found it and opened the door. After I did, I immediately wished that I hadn't, there was trash and clothes thrown all over the place, the bed was all messed up and I swear the room must have been forty-below!

"Gray?" I called out, pulling my sweater around myself for warmth.

"Lucy? Is that you?" a voice called out from… somewhere in the room.

"Ya, it's me…. Where the heck are you?"

"Closet, be right there!"

"Kay." Wait… closet?

A door opened in the side of the wall and Gray stumbled out of it, he steadied himself of a side table and waved.

"Hey Luce!"

"…"

I just stood there for a moment, staring. He was only wearing a pair of black boxers, even though I've seen him without a shirt before, I didn't notice how pronounced his muscles really were. He must have noticed me staring because he looked down, screamed and ran into the bathroom.

Two minutes later he returned fully clothed, I couldn't help feel a little… disappointed…

Mental slap.

Anyways, I helped him throw his stuff into his bag and we left after he checked out. He jumped into the driver's seat of the car.

"Shotgun" I mumbled.

"Say something Luce?"

"No. nothing." I made myself comfortable and turned on the radio, there seemed to be nothing good on so I turned it off after a little bit and just stared out the window watching the trees zip past us. I was extremely tired from packing the night before so I snuggled into the seat and started to drift off.

I awoke roughly an hour later and realized that the car had stopped moving. I opened an eye and glanced over to see Gray looking at me, I felt a blush run across my face, I didn't want him to know that I saw him staring so I shifted in my seat and pretended I was just waking up. When I looked over again, he was looking out his window, admiring the scenery, perhaps I hadn't seen correctly, maybe it was just my imagination going wild, making me see what I wanted to see. Wait… did I want Gray to look at me? Truthfully I didn't know anymore. So I brushed the feeling away and go out of the car for a stretch, I didn't know how stiff sleeping in a car could make you, ugh!

"Good to see you awake; I was starting to get lonely without someone to talk to." I heard Gray say from inside the car. I stepped back inside.

"Sorry about falling asleep-"I replied sheepishly "I was kind of tired from last night, didn't get much sleep. But I feel all rested and ready to go now!"

"Good to hear! We only have about two hours to go."

"Uuuggghhhh!"

"Ya, I know how you feel." He said sympathetically. "Remember that I had to do this before"

That's right, he had to have gotten to my town somehow, I hadn't really given it much thought. But when I do actually think about it, I don't know why he was there anyways…

"Gray?"

"Ya?"

"Why _**were**_ you in town? I mean, if you love Fairy Tail so much, why would you leave?"

He looked over at me, "I suppose I just needed a change of scenery for a little bit, that's all. But after being in that town, I think I've seen enough for a long time. I'll be perfectly happy being back home, that's what a lot of people in Fairy Tail do, just do some traveling from place to place, never really settling anywhere. But I think that everyone will agree that if we do have a home, it's defiantly Fairy Tail."

I felt, touched, moved to tears (only without the tears). Gray must have seen my expression because he looked over to the windshield

"We better get moving or we might never get there" he joked half-heartedly. He turned the key, but all the car did was make a lot of noise. "shit." He mumbled under his breath, "shit, shit, shit, shit!"

I couldn't understand it; the car never did anything like this before. She always got me where I needed to go without any trouble. it was just playing a trick on us, she would never do something like this! Smoke was starting to leak out from under the hood…

"Maybe we should find a phone?" I suggested

"The nearest phone is about 2 ½ miles out, at least that's the last gas station I saw. And it's already getting dark; it would be dangerous to start out now."

"Then what are we going to do? I'm not sure my back can handle a whole night in that car."

He looked down at the ground, thinking. Then popped up and headed to the trunk of the car. He searched it for about a minute, and then pulled out a tent.

"Why the heck do you have a tent?" I asked

He shrugged offhandedly "why _**wouldn't**_ I have a tent?"

"…"


	7. Chapter 7- Unwanted help

k i finished this chapter! and im happy that so many more people have added me to favorites and alerts! it makes me feel good. thanks! but i would still feel better if you guys would review more! hint hint. but anyway i hope you guys like this chapter, it took me a while to find the right words and such, so it may be a little below my normal standards and i appologize. to the disclaimer! up up and away!

disclaimer: i do not own any of the fairy tail characters only the ones that i make up myself. (who seem to all be evil!)

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><p>"I and thought that sleeping in a car was uncomfortable!" I muttered to myself.<p>

"You might want to stretch out before we pack up" Gray suggested "if you don't now, you'll be sore for pretty much the rest of the day."

"Good to know." I said while bending to touch my toes. Hmmm that did feel better; I wondered how many times he had slept in a tent like this. When we were done stretching, we started to put away the tent. After we finished I rested against the blue door of the Lexus, "so when are we leaving?" I asked

"You mean when am I leaving. It's a long walk and I think that it be better if only I went." He gave me a look that told me that he didn't want me to argue with him. So I just nodded and sat on the ground, he grabbed his backpack from the car and started off down the road. I sat there watching him until I could only see a speck, then I flopped down on the damp grass and looked up at the sky, shielding my eyes from the sun. It was surprisingly warm for this time of day, so I slipped off my sweater leaving me in only a purple tank top and jeans. I noted that this would be a good time to write a bit for my book so I walked up the car and shuffled through the various boxes until I found the one I was looking for, I pulled a chain from my neck and slipped off the key. I thought that would be the safest place for the key would be a place where I could see it at all times, I always wore the necklace, the only times I ever took it off was when I went swimming, took a shower, those kinds of situations. I picked up the book from the case, spread my sweater on the ground and started to write.

It must have been a good half hour before I looked up from my page, Gray couldn't be that much longer, I was giving him an estimate of maybe another 30 minutes. White clouds where started to dot the clear sky, I lay on my back trying to find shapes in the clouds, I did this a lot with Wendy back home. Wendy. I shot straight up. I forgot to say goodbye to Wendy! Shit! She would be heartbroken, I would have to call home and apologize, I just hoped that I could get through; if dad picked up he wouldn't let me talk to her. Guilt was tearing me up inside. "I feel like crap." I muttered out loud, putting my face in my hands.

"You sure don't look like crap sweetheart!" my head whipped up, I was not expecting a response to my mumblings. I quickly placed my book into its case and stood up, "hello." I greeted cautiously.

Standing by a black truck were two men, early 20's I guessed. One was tall and lanky, with blonde hair dyed black; the other was also tall but a little stockier, with brown hair and sunglasses. My gut that was practically screaming 'Danger! Danger! Get away now!' but where was I going to go? The car wasn't going anywhere and if I ran, these men could easily catch up. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, what was I going to do? I decided to see if I could make them leave.

"Can I help you?" I asked,

"Actually-"he stated rather cheerily "we thought that maybe we could help you! We saw your car pulled over and thought you might be having a spot of car trouble." My stomach unclenched, they only wanted to help me, I was worried over nothing. But my state of calm was taken away when he added:

"But it will come at a price, and we like to be paid in advance, don't we Jake?" he looked at his buddy who nodded silently, an upsetting smirk painted on his face.

My eyes widened as they ventured closer, I started to back up. But as I did, I tripped over a rock and landed on my back. They wasted no time, I was immediately hauled up to my feet by the man called Jake, I tried to twist out of his grasp, but he was too strong. The other man walked up to me and held up my chin so I was face to face with him, my nose crinkled, his breath smelled of some kind of alcohol. "Come on honey! Don't be like that; we can give you a good time if you just let us! you can't be having very much fun all by yourself."

"Actually I came here with my boyfriend." It was a stretch of the truth, but I figured a boyfriend would be more intimidating them just a friend.

His mouth was getting much too close to mine. "Really. Then where is this so called boyfriend of yours blondie?"

"Right behind you." a voice said, Black hair turned around, only to get a face full of Gray's fist; Jake dropped me and threw a punch towards Gray, who blocked it by grabbing the guy's wrist and flipping him over his shoulder. the poor guy had the wind knocked out of him, Gray put a foot over his chest and said,

"You take your buddy and leave us alone, understand?" the man could only wheeze, but Gray took it as a yes. When Jake caught his breath, he lugged his friend to their truck and drove off.

I stared at Gray in awe, "Thank you! You saved me big time! Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"An old friend."His face clouded over, but it soon returned back to normal and he shrugged like it was no big deal "and your welcome for the saving, you do realize that's the second time right?"

"I'm kind of attack prone."

"Ya, I've noticed. I mean, I'm your boyfriend arn't I?" he gave me a teasing look.

"It seemed like a good idea!" I reasoned, "I thought it might stop them." He laughed,

"It's okay! It was a good idea, you don't have to defend yourself, your acting like a child who just got scolded for stealing a cookie." I smiled, "anyway, I got a guy on the way to fix the car, so let's just chill for a bit okay?"

"Okay"

We spent a while just sitting quietly, pointing out random wildlife that we happened to see, it was nice. When the mechanic showed up he and Gray went up to look under the hood, it turned out that something managed to find its way in there, clogging something. They removed it and we were all set to leave again, I grabbed the box with my book in it and we continued our journey. After what I had been through I found I was tired and ended up falling asleep again. But when I awoke, Gray was staring at the road and not at me.

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><p>did you guys like it? please review!<p> 


	8. Chapter 8- An intresting arrival

hi hi my reader! im so so so so so so soooooo sorry about the late update! i wanted to post earlier but my laptop went all loco on me and when it started to work again the internet was down because of the snow! and i give a huge thanks to snowdrop08! shes the reason this chapter is possible! i was having such a terrible case of writers block, then came the review for Gray's POV. how could i not have thought of that? anyways, thanks so much! thats the reason why you review people!

disclaimer: technicly i dont have to put anymore disclaimers on, but its fun! sretcarahc s'ti ro liat yriaf nwo ton od i

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><p>Grays POV:<p>

It was around noon when we arrived in town, after Lucy almost caught me staring, I made a big effort to not look at her for the rest of the drive. But when we got there I figured that it was okay to face her like normal and have a conversation. She was staring out the window with a dreamy look in her eyes, a slight smile on her face, she looked extremely happy. Unfortunately the conversation didn't start as planned as I was staring at her again, and was the one driving….

"Gray watch out!" my eyes zipped back to the front, I grasped the steering wheel a little more firmly and swerved, narrowly missing the stone wall of a building. The car was out of control for a few seconds; spinning wildly. When I was back in control of the car again, I drove to the side of the road and parked. Lucy was holding on to her seat like it was the only thing keeping her from floating away. her brown eyes wide with fright and her mouth slightly open.

"Lucy?" no answer, she just kept staring out into space. "Lucy!" I called a little louder, she didn't even blink. If I didn't know any better, she might have been one of my ice sculptures. I cursed loudly, put the car in drive and sped off towards the guild. And so that I wouldn't traumatize Lucy any more than she already was, I made sure to be extra careful. When we arrived I got out of the car and hurried to the passenger side and picked up Lucy by putting one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. I rushed to the door, opened it and ran over to where Mirajane was serving someone their drink. The guild went quiet, they were all staring at the wide eyed girl in my arms, I ignored them and continued to where Mira was. When she looked up she gave me a grin, but the smile disappeared into a frown of concern when she got a look at Lucy. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again, I decided to answer the question she was probably burning to ask.

"I think I put her into shock." I stated. I heard a few giggles and a couple of wolf whistles, I whipped around and glared at them, "not in that way you perverts!" I turned back to Mirajane. "is there anything you can do for her?" she nodded and walked over to the door of a separate room.

"I think that it would be best to let her lie down don't you think? Unless you like having her in your arms?" she gave me a mischievous smile and I could feel my face turning an unflattering colour of red. I just walked past her and placed Lucy on the small bed provided. Her eyes were just as wide and unmoving as ever, I was starting to wonder if I had killed her…

Mira came into the room holding a glass of something…

"If she's' in shock, how are we going to get her to drink that?" I asked. She gave me a grin.

"oh, you don't drink it." She went over to the bed and dumped the contents (which turned out to be ice water) all over Lucy. She screeched and leapt off the bed,

"What just happened?" she was looking in all directions like a trapped rabbit.

"It's okay Luce. We're in Fairy tail's guild, we almost had an accident but we are alright now!" I gave her a hug and realized she was shivering. "Lucy? Are you still Scared? We're safe!"

"I know that-" she began, teeth chattering, "- I'm just cold from the water that was just poured on me!" she glared at Mirajane.

"I thought that it would be the easiest and safest way to snap you out of it." Mira said calmly, "by the way, I'm Mirajane. The bartender here at the guild."

"Lucy." She introduced herself. "I'm a friend of Gray, I needed a new start and so he drove me here to Fairy tail." She smiled at Mira "and I'm sorry that I snapped it's just that I've been through a lot today."

"Oh it's okay, I should be the one to appoligize,-" (I still find it strange how girls can be at each other's throats at one moment, then best friends the next.) "-I'm sure you must be very uncomfortable in those clothes." Lucy gave her a weak smile,

"Yes it is and I think I'm going to go to the car and get a change of clothes from my suitcase." She walked towards the door but Mira grabbed her arm to hold her back.

"Whoa there girl! If you haven't noticed your dripping water and your shirt is slightly see-through in this lighting." At that Lucy looked down and gasped, she reached over to the bed and grabbed the blanket to cover her body. As I myself had just noticed that, I looked away, blushing furiously. Mira giggled at our reactions then solved the problem by reaching into a trunk in the corner of the room and pulling out a dress. Truthfully, I don't know anything about clothes, but it must have been a pretty nice one because Lucy squealed in delight and gave Mirajane a huge hug. She took the dress in her hands, running her delicate fingers through the fabric, rubbing it against her cheek… you could say that I was interested in what the dress looked like, but that would be lying. I don't really have an appreciation of clothes since I hardly wear them anyways. So I just kind of stood there, watching her freak out over the dress until Mira shooed me out so that Lucy could change.

When it was safe to enter again, I opened the door and looked at her. She had dried her hair so that with the exception of her little side ponytail, it fell down her shoulders like a golden waterfall. And when I had expected to see her in the usual dark colours, she was instead standing there dressed in a short, light pink sundress. I had never seen her in anything of a light colour palette, it made her look…. Good. She had a confused look on her face,

"Gray?"

"Hmm?"

"Do I look weird?" she asked, a worried tone hinted in her voice.

"What? What makes you think that?"

"You're staring at me." Ahhhhhhgg! I felt so stupid! How could I have been staring again?

"Umm, no, it's nothing. Just lost in thought." Was the lame answer I ended up giving her.

"Oh. Okay then!" she replied with a smile. She looked so excited to be here, that's when I realized that she had officially been in Fairy tail for almost an hour and the only person she had met was Mirajane!

"Well Luce, are you ready to go out there and meet some people?"

"What do you think?" she asked sarcastically, running towards the door. I laughed and chased after her, hoping that everything was going to go just perfect today.

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><p>meeting people from fairy tail is fun, but do you want to know whats more fun? writing reviews!<p> 


	9. Chapter 9- Welcome to Fairy Tail

im terribly sorry for the late review! first i was having a bad case of writers block, then i was saddled with major homework and studying problems, then yesterday as i was on the computer, i saw a **_large_** spider crawling across the floor. and due to my 'irational' fear of spiders i fled the basement, leaving my laptop. and was too scared to retrieve it until lately. so i appologize. but anyways, here is the new chapter! and please, give me reviews and ideas! it takes less time to make new chapters when people tell me what i have to improve! thanks to the few people who did review i apreciate it!

disclaimer: look at previous chapters. because im feeling lazy today, and the spiders r not helping... shudder.

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><p>As I made my way through the guild, I noticed that it went all quiet again…<p>

"Umm, Gray?" I asked nervously

"Yah?"

"Why is it so quiet? I'm kind of creeped out." He laughed; I didn't think it was very funny "come on Gray! Just introduce me to one of your friends or something!" he nodded

"sure alright, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around right now, as soon as one shows up ill introduce you, okay?"

"Alright."

"Great! As long as it isn't-""Yo. Snowman!" a loud voice came from behind us. Gray swore under his breath then turned around, "flame brain! I thought that you were out doing something this week." He said, annoyance tracing his every word. The man behind us looked our age and strangely enough, had a head of pink hair.

"I got it done early-"'Pink hair' shrugged nonchalantly, that's when I noticed that there was a blue cat standing beside him… the boys started arguing but I just kept staring at the cat. Until it made a funny face at me! I screamed and leapt back. The boys stopped fighting and looked at me,

"That cat st-stuck it's t-tongue out at me and winked!" I stuttered.

"Ya probably should have warned you about that." Pink hair apologized, "Happy's kind of… different, defiantly not like regular cats. As you might have guessed from the blue fur."

"Aye!" the cat said, my eye twitched. I looked at the boy, who looked back at me.

"I'm Natsu by the way, Natsu Dragneel." He said, giving me the biggest smile I've ever seen.

"My names Lucy Heartfillia, nice to meet you Natsu." I replied, returning the smile as best I could, but my mouth wasn't wide enough to match his. It must have been sufficient because he pulled me into a bear hug; I swear he crushed one of my ribs! Morris had nothing on this guy; I thought I was going to pass out again, when Gray pulled him off me.

"Geez get off her dragon breath! What are you trying to do, kill her?"

"No, that's just how I greet new friends' ice-for-brains!"

"Well, you know what? You can just-" and as the boys started to bicker again I looked back down at Happy.

"Do they do this every time they see each other?" I asked, the cat only winked at me again… I sat down at a bench and waited for them to stop fighting. I waited, and waited, and waited, until finally Mira walked up to them and tapped Gray on the shoulder.

"Gray."

"Not now Mira, I'm in the middle of something!"

"Oh alright, I just thought I should warn you two that Erza is opening the door." Natsu and Gray froze, Mira seemed satisfied and walked back to the counter. I looked towards the entrance and saw a tall woman who seemed to be a couple years older than us, she had a frown etched upon her face and had long, red hair. As she walked up to us, I wondered why the boys stopped fighting when she came in, but when I went to ask them I saw them with their arms linked around each other, laughing. I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw that the woman had reached the table, she gave me a curious look.

"Are you new here?" she asked,

"Uh, yes. My name is Lucy, you're Erza right?" she gave me a smile.

"Yep! Erza Scarlet, the strongest woman in Fairy Tail!" she announced proudly. She then turned to Natsu and Gray,

"And you two!" they flinched and cowered in fear, "have you been fighting?"

"No ma'am! Of course not ma'am! We would never do that ma'am!" they shouted, hugging each other like lifelong buddies."

"Good, we wouldn't want to give Lucy here the wrong impression of Fairy Tail would we?" she glared at them,

"Of course not Erza!" Natsu agreed, "Because Fairy Tail is the most wonderful place in the world!" Erza gave him a pat on the head then walked away. The boys breathed sighs of relief,

"That was close" muttered Gray, "I thought she was going to murder us. Come on Luce, let's go." We started to walk away when Natsu grabbed my wrist,

"Hey! I want to hang out with Lucy too!" he whined.

"But I'm the one showing her around, I brought her here and I'm going to finish my job." Gray reasoned taking my other arm. They stood there for a while just sizing each other up, until I finally said:

"Um actually guys, I think I'm going to look for an apartment now, so if you'll excuse me." I slipped out of there grasps and made my way towards the door. When I made it outside I could still here Gray and Natsu blaming each other for scaring me away, but I really did need to find a place to live. That was one of the things that I didn't think through before I left, I had enough money for the down payment on an average apartment. I would have to find work to pay the rent every month, but I would get to that bridge when I crossed it. So I strolled down the street until I saw a 'for rent' sign, the owner of the house was a small, old lady. She seemed nice enough so I agreed to her terms and paid her what was owed. I drove the car over and unpacked my stuff, the few rooms I was now in possession of looked more like home then my old house ever did. I jumped on my bed and laid there for a moment, thinking of what just happened. I had met three new friends and found myself a place to live, a pretty good start to my new life. I snuggled into my blankets and started to close my eyes, wondering what exciting things I would do the next day. I made up many different scenarios in my head, but none were even remotely close to what I _**really**_ would be facing.

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><p>ooooh! REVIEW!<p> 


	10. Chapter 10- A bad habit gone even worse

wow okay. i was having one of my genius moments here so i finished this chapter really quickly! and Snowdrop08 has brought to my attention about me calling the place where Gray brought Lucy the 'guild' and i do realize now that it might have been a little confusing about whether this was a realistic fanfiction or not. and the definition of guild is: an organization of persons with related intrests, goals, etc., especially one formed for mutual aid or protection. so i just figured that i could make it a hangout, similar to the real thing only without magic. sorry for any confusion i might have caused. but..ya. review peoples! because of one review i was able to explain this one part. this is why there is a little link at the bottom of the page that says: Review. press it. you know you want to!

disclaimer: if i were the real writer, i wouldnt be wasting my time writing fanfiction. i would be making the new chapters of the real Fairy Tail.

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><p>The moment I woke up the next morning, I immediately felt that something was wrong. I can't really explain it, but it's that feeling you get when you can tell that there's another human in the room. I slowly lifted the covers off my body and crept towards the door of my living room. As I peeked into the room I saw the top of someone's head peeking out from the top of my couch, as I took a closer look I recognized the bluish blackish color of Gray's hair. I breathed a sigh of relief as I moved closer,<p>

"Good morning Gray." I greeted, but as I went to face him I noticed that he was holding some papers in his hands, in further examination I realized that they weren't just any papers: they were my manuscript. I screamed and snatched them away from him. "What the hell do you think your doing?" I yelled at him? "Nobody's' supposed to read this until I finish it! And how did you get it unlocked? I'm wearing the key around my neck for God's sake! And… why are you even in my house? I haven't told you my address yet!"

Gray took the whole thing with a grimace on his face.

"I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to read it." He muttered, "And it wasn't locked, I just picked up the box and the top just popped open. And I had a feeling that you would pick the first place you came to and this was it. I asked the landlady, she was being strangely nice so she told me that you did indeed move in here." He finished. That was when I realized that last night before I relaxed I must have read my manuscript over and when I put it back in the box I didn't lock it… I smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry?" Gray sighed,

"Geez Lucy, you don't need to apologize, I probably gave you a scare. Anyways, I'm not a big reader so I didn't really take in what was happening in that book anyways. But when it's finished you should let Levy read it, she's a total bookworm." I sat down beside him and laid back,

"Okay, that sounds great. So I'm expecting you to introduce me to the rest of your friends today you know."

"I know, but you should really be preparing, todays Sunday."

"Ya, so?"

"We have school tomorrow." I groaned

"I totally forgot about that. Am I going to the same school as you?"

"It's a small town Lucy, it's not like we have more than one." He laughed,

"riiight." I turned to look at him. That's when I jumped up from the couch and screamed, covering my eyes. I heard him jump up as well,

"What? What it is, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly, I tried to keep calm as I answered him; it wasn't like I could see anything at the moment anyways.

"Gray, I know about you're habit to strip, but I didn't think that you could go this far." He must have looked down because I heard him scream and rush to find some kind of covering. "Umm, is it safe for me to look now?" I asked,

"Uh, I guess so." He mumbled, I opened my eyes to find Gray wrapped in my bed sheets. I tried to stifle my laugh but some giggles managed to sneak out here and there.

"It's not funny." He growled, trying to hide his blush with his hair, "I don't even know how long I've been like that for."

"Since I don't see your clothes anywhere in here, I'm guessing before you got here. Maybe that's why the landlady was so nice." I teased, not even trying to stop my laughter now. Gray paled at the thought of it, which only made me laugh harder. I was starting to have trouble breathing and my cheeks where hurting.

"Come on Luce!" he complained, "how am I going to get home?" I gulped for air as my laughs subsided.

"You're just lucky that I wear my brother's old shirt and boxers to bed sometimes." I replied entering my room, grabbing mentioned clothing. "here." I handed him the clothes, "these'll do until you can get better.

"I have to wear boxers around town?"

"You said people were used to it." I reasoned,

"Ya-" he said, the blush still tingeing his face "but I don't notice it then, this is doing it on purpose and I fell kind of self-conscious…"

"Come on Gray, man up." I said, leaving the room so he could change. "I'll meet you at the hangout in a few okay?" he nodded and I entered my room again so I could get ready, shaking my head as I did. He was so strange, but cute. Cute? I tripped over the rug and landed on my face, "no that can't be right." I muttered to myself as I got up from the floor. I heard the front door close as Gray left the building, I exhaled and started to get dressed. I didn't think that it would be a good idea to act like Gray and end up at the guild in my underwear. I smiled at the thought as I pulled off my pajamas. Although I'm not sure that some of the men there would mind very much…

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><p>i love this ending so much! ;P<p> 


	11. Chapter 11- Wendy

hello! sorry about the late update! i was having trouble thinking of what i could put into this chapter, it was much harder than i thought it would be becuase i only received one _**reveiw**_... =( sad. but life has gone on. but i really would love it if you guys could update some more. at first i wasnt sure if i liked this chapter or not and i still cant decide if its one of my better ones or not... **review** and tell my what you think.

disclaimer: i wish i owned Fairy Tail and its characters, i love Gray *^_-*

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><p>When I finished getting ready I headed out the door towards the guild, and as I did I took my time so I could look around town a little bit. The houses were old, but cute and well taken care of, the plants were all very beautiful and colorful, spread throughout the parks. And the roads were all very clean, in my old town the streets were also clean but that was because people were hired to drive street cleaners every day. Here you could tell that the cleanliness was because the people took care to not make a mess, I could feel the love in this town. As I walked down the street I jumped up on the ledge that fenced the little river that ran the length of the area. when I'm not troubled with petty problems I have surprisingly good balance so I wasn't afraid of falling, but the townspeople seemed extremely cautious, constantly telling me to 'be careful' or to 'step off the ledge before I fall'. I only smiled and at them and kept walking, the trip to the guild was surprisingly short, almost too short, I kind of wanted the walk to last longer so I could take in my surroundings; I still hadn't really soaked in the fact that dad couldn't control me anymore. I took a deep breath and entered the building; I walked up to Mira, who was chatting with a small boy at the counter.<p>

"Hey Mirajane!" I waved "who's the kid?" Mira went to open her mouth but the boy cut her off:

"'the kid's' name is Romeo and would like to be referred to as such." I blinked; surprised at how much he sounded like Gray the day we met. I might have called him Gray's brother if I didn't know better, he had had dark hair and seemed around six or seven, hmm same age as Wendy...

"WENDY!" I screamed, probably scaring the life out of anyone near me but I didn't really care at the moment. I had been here two whole days and I haven't called Wendy yet! "Idiot, idiot, idiot!" I yelled, smacking my forehead. Romeo looked at me with an expression of horror. I subtly ignored the similar looks I was receiving from other people around me, "Mira, do you have a portable phone in this joint?"

"Yes… right here…" she pulled a cordless phone out from underneath the counter. I snatched it out of her hand and ran towards the room I was resting in the day before,

"Tell Gray that I had to make an extremely important call!" I called over my shoulder before shutting the wooden door; I flopped onto the bed and dialed the number into the phone. As it started to ring I realized that I had no idea what I was going to say to her. Sorry? I love you? Forgive me? The monotone ringing ceased as someone answered the phone.

"Hello?" I recognized the voice as my brother's. What was he doing home? My mouth suddenly felt bone dry.

"Uh, could I speak to Wendy?" I croaked out, there was a pause on the other end of the line.

"Who is this?" crap. What was I going to do now? If I told him it was me he might not let me talk to her. Think, think!

"Susannah." I ended up blurting out, "I met Wendy at the park a few days ago and I thought we could have a play date." I held my breath; there was no way he was going to believe that; Wendy hated making new friends and i sounded nothing like a six year old girl.

"Alright wait a moment." My mouth dropped open in disbelief; he really didn't know who Wendy really was.

"Hello…" a small voice whispered,

"Wen, it's me Lucy!" I spoke into the telephone, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Lucy?"

"Yes Wendy, I had to apologize for not telling you sooner but I had a lot on my mind, but I'm in a small town called Fairy Tail and the people here are really nice and I think that this might be a nice place for me to live for now on." I droned on, "Will you forgive me for not saying goodbye? Please Wendy!" I pleaded.

"I never said I was angry Lucy, I had guessed that's what had happened, and I don't blame you. You've suffered enough by the hands of father." Her voice still sounded like that of a six year old, but her words were those of a person who had seen problems beyond their time. "I love you Lucy, that's never going to change, I thought you knew that." I felt tears start to well up in my eyes,

"Of course I know that Wendy! It's just that I left without speaking to you, I wouldn't have blamed you if you hated me."

"I could never hate you; no matter how far away you run, no matter what you do to me or how much you hurt me, I could _**never**_ hate you." I heard her smile into the phone, "and I know that you love me too Lucy."

"Wendy, just always remember that I lo-"I was interrupted by a familiar voice on the other end of the line

"Wendy! Are you talking to Lucy? I heard her name. Give me that phone this instant!"

"No!" Wendy screamed. I heard a scuffle and the _thud_ of a small body hitting the ground, "give it back to me!" Wendy cried loudly.

"Wendy! Go downstairs to father's study, he **_will _**be hearing about this. Now!" Gajeel ordered. He put the phone to his ear, "hello Lucy, if you ever decide to call here again I think you know who will be paying the consequences." He then hung up the phone, the tears that I was holding back until now flowed freely from my eyes.

Not caring who saw me I stood up and left the small room, leaving the phone of the mattress. I could feel the many stares on me but I didn't care, Wendy was going to be punished because of me. I knew that whatever dad would do to her it wouldn't be physical punishment but something concerning her feelings; her weakest point. As I put my hand on the door I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked up and saw Gray looking down at me, his face filled with concern. I looked back down and kept walking, Gray followed silently besides me. We walked to my apartment and sat on my couch, he was keeping a safe distance away from me, knowing how fragile I was at the moment, and I was thankful for that. After a few minutes I stopped crying, knowing it wasn't going to help anything. I wiped my eyes and took some deep breaths, gulping down air.

"You alright?" Gray asked, I sniffled

"Ya, I think so."

"Why were you crying?" he asked innocently, but the words were enough to remind me of the pain I had caused my little sister, my eyes burned again.

"I called my little sister, but my brother caught her and now I don't know what they're going to do with her." His expression morphed into one of sympathy, "I think I'm going to go lie down now." He nodded

"I think you need it, I'll pick you up for school tomorrow morning, don't forget, the last thing you need is to get detention on your first day." He teased; I gave a small smile before entering my room and closing the door. I sat on my bed, staring at my knees and thinking about my call with Wendy. At least she knew I loved her, at least I hoped she did since Gajeel had cut me off. Hmm, why was Gajeel home? He was usually out of town working on his portion of dad's company. It must have been something important to make him come home; he hated spending time with the family. And because of that he never got to know the wonderful young girl that was his smallest sibling, which was one of the reasons Wendy was so intrapersonal, Gajeel would always ignore her when she wanted to play. Even as a child my brother was a bully, he would always push me and the kids in his school around as if we were his personal play things.

I sighed; I was thinking too much, my head felt like it would explode from the continually growing mess of my imagination. I covered my eyes with my hands and fell back onto the blue bedspread, 'I didn't get to meet any of Gray's friends today' I realized. I supposed that I would have no choice but to meet them tomorrow at school, I groaned. If they were anything like Natsu was I didn't think that I could handle it. I rolled over to my bedside table and grabbed my alarm clock and made sure to set it for early the next morning, then placed it back beside my lamp.

After a while I got up and walked into the kitchen to get something to eat, I dug through the fridge until I found some bread and jelly to make a sandwich. After making my lunch I sat down at the table and started eating, for the first time that day, my life felt… almost normal, I felt like a regular person eating a regular sandwich. After I finished eating I washed the dishes and went back into my room to change into my pajamas; if I wasn't going anywhere else today I might as well be comfortable. Once I was changed I sat back on my bed and stared at the ceiling, it seemed so… bare. The gears in my brain started to whir; I jumped off the bed and headed into the living room, grabbing some paper and paint as I did. I spent a good hour on the floor working on my little project; it was the hardest I had worked on something in a long time. When the paint dried I taped the shapes onto my ceiling, right above my bed. When I was finished I lay on my back and looked up at the finished product. My ceiling was now covered in a small version of the solar system; I had made all the planets: mars, Jupiter, Saturn etc. I had also made hundreds of tiny silver stars to fill every empty space, I had also made all the constellations I could remember, I painted them in gold instead though, so they would stand out. I had always loved constellations; I used to sneak up to the roof at night to stargaze. I smiled at my handiwork, eyes drooping, I had been sleeping way too much since I had arrived in Fairy Tail, but I felt that after what I had accomplished I deserved it. Now feeling very excited for school the next morning I started to drift off to sleep. That night I dreamt about dancing through the stars with a mysterious dark haired man.

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><p><strong><em><span>REVIEW!<span>_**


	12. Chapter 12- Pick up lines

wow, i was really late with this update wasn't I? I apologize with all my heart. this is one of my longer chapters, but i still don't think its long enough, so sorry about that guys. now there may be some slight romance between Lucy and someone else besides Gray, don't worry, its still a Gralu. but i needed this to build up to the story. hope you review!... no seriously, REVIEW! (ahahaha! the new fairy tail chapter! poor Jellal!)

disclaimer: truthfully i prefer in not having owning the characters, then i wouldn't be able to write fanfiction because i would be so busy drawing the real stuff.

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><p>I felt rather refreshed the next morning. When my alarm clock went off I woke up and immediately ran into the bathroom to wash up; I knew that if I didn't do it then, my hair would be completely unmanageable. I was planning on making it a quick shower, but it was so relaxing it went on a little longer than necessary. When I finally realized how long I had been in the bathroom I turned off the water and wrapped myself in a towel. As I went to do my hair, I noticed my hairbrush wasn't by the sink. My first thought was burglars… then I returned to reason and remembered that I left it in the living room the previous day. I made sure I was wearing the towel then opened my bedroom door and proceeded into the other room. It was a slightly chilly morning; I could hear the wind blowing through the trees outside. I would need to wear a sweater today, such a shame; I quite liked the warm weather.<p>

As I made my way towards my hairbrush I was starting to wish I had dried off completely before collecting it; I was creating a trail of water everywhere I stepped. When I reached the living room I reached down and picked the brush up off the floor, but as I turned around to go back into my room I slipped on one of the puddles and landed on my couch in a less than comfortable pose, somehow managing to keep my towel in place. It was at that moment I heard the front door opening.

"Hey Luce! I'm here to pick you up for scho-"he looked over to where I was laying and froze. I could only imagine what I looked like because his expression was... filled with shock, embarrassment, confusion and like he wanted to laugh, all at the same time. "What in the world-"I rolled off the couch and dashed into the safety of my bedroom, blushing uncontrollably. I stayed there; pressing myself against the door making sure it stayed shut, hyperventilating. "Lucy? Are you… alright?" I heard him say on the other side of the door. He just saw me practically naked, how did he think I was doing?

"Ya… i'll be out in a few." I answered, I sighed out the breath I didn't know I was holding and re-entered the bathroom for another try at my hair. As I ran the brush through it, I looked at it fondly through the mirror; it really was the exact colour that mum's was. I continued to brush my hair until it fell down my shoulders in a soft wave, my alarm clock beeped jerking me back to reality as I still needed to get dressed; I felt if I went out there again with just my towel again, I might not leave my apartment ever again. I threw on a pair of slightly ripped jeans and a blue tank top and left the safe haven of my room to face the man in my house, only now it wasn't only Gray, but Natsu as well. I seemed to have walked in on another one of their arguments because they were yelling the most outrageous names at each other and using wild hand gestures.

"Aye." I looked down to see Happy pacing back and forth by my feet. I bent down and gave him a scratch behind his ear.

"Good morning Happy, glad to see someone has notice me." I mumbled. I looked over at the clock on the stove; realizing we were going to be late I took a page out of Mirajane's book. "Oh, good morning Erza." I said to nobody in particular, it seemed to do the trick though, because the boys stopped what they were doing and started hugging each other. I giggled and motioned towards the door, "come on guys, Gray, you were the one who said I shouldn't be late on my first day." Realizing that Erza wasn't really there the boys let go of each other and started grumbling, giving the other nasty looks. But all the same they walked towards the door,

When they had made through the front door, I grabbed a sweater from my closet and followed them out. After five minutes the two boys finally tired of the silent glares and started to verbally abuse each other again. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I think it had to do something with speed and racing. My guess was confirmed when they sped off down the street, leaving me where I stood. It took me a couple moments to fully understand what had just happened, but when it had sunk in, I shifted into a run, trying my hardest to catch up with them. I saw them turn a corner further up the sidewalk. In order not to lose them I pumped my legs harder; feet slapping the gray pavement beneath me. When I reached the bend, I used the wall bordering it to swing me into the right direction, but because of that wall I wasn't able to see the orange haired teen on the other side of it. We both landed on the walk with a crash,

"What the hell are you doing you idi-" he stopped screaming at me once he took a look at who I was, I saw his eyes sparkle mischievously. "Why, hello there, I haven't seen you here before." I couldn't tell if he was using a terrible pick up line on me, or was just being nice.

"Oh, well I just needed a break from my old life, so I moved here to start over." He gave me the once over

"Well I sure am glad you decided to stick around, I really want us to get to know each other." I still couldn't tell if he was hitting on me or not… "You know, I'd love to talk with you more right now but unfortunately I have to get to school." He turned to leave,

"Wait, do you go to Fairy Tail high?" I asked quickly, realizing since Gray and Natsu were gone I had no way of knowing where the school was.

"Actually yes," he answered "is that where you're going to school now?"

"Yes, but I have no idea how to get there, can you show me where it is?" I pleaded, giving my best puppy dog eyes, one look at my face and he agreed. As we walked he told me about some of the teachers who worked there. All of them sounded wonderful, kind and understanding. Despite being told about a few of the meaner teachers who were a little less lenient, I was (for the first time) excited to go to school:

Even on my very first day of school as a child, I didn't want to go, I just wanted to stay home and play with Wendy, go around with her all day-every day; doing what she did. I made a huge ruckus about it; stamping my feet, refusing to eat anything, giving everyone around me the silent treatment. Despite all that, dad made me go anyways. I didn't enjoy it at all; the teachers were always giving out false smiles to the throngs of children that made up my kindergarten class. None of the activities caught my interest and all the other girls ignored me because I had refused to play with the dolls, they thought I was strange. And the boys didn't want to play with me because, well, I was a girl. I spent the majority of the day sitting alone in a corner of the multicolored carpet, reading one of those books about dancing fairies and forest elves who played tricks on the townsfolk. Even at a very young age I was taught to read by my mother and father, they believed that a pre-education before kindergarten would do me good, and it did because I spent most of my first year at school reading every book available on the bookshelves that lined the walls of the classroom. I was considered a loner, students and teachers alike never paid me much attention because I was the wallflower, the introvert, the observer. This went on for the next couple grades, and because I was reading so many books I had one of the highest reading levels for anyone my age. But third grade was… different, because that year we not only learned the basic academic needs, but that you shouldn't insult me when I'm reading.

It was free time and I had just sat down on the scratchy blue carpet, an unfamiliar book in my hands waiting to be read. My back resting against the wall and my knees propping the spine of the book up. I was just about to open the cover when a group of boys surrounded me. At first I paid no attention to them and began to read, but then they started to inch closer and closer, whispering amongst them. Finally I looked up from my book,

"Can I help you?" I asked in a quiet, yet bored tone. They continued to stare and whisper until one of them finally had the guts to speak,

"We just wanted to know why you're such a geek." I blinked, something starting to bubble up in the pit of my stomach. I opened my mouth to retort but the boy kept talking, it almost seemed he was unable to stop. "You never play with the other kids, you read way too much, and you never talk. Do you have some kind of mental problem or something? Or did you become a freak later in life?" I now recognize what the unnamed emotion that was swirling inside of me was. Anger. I'm not exactly sure what happened, ever since mum's death I would sometimes just… snap. After a while I came to and saw everyone staring at me, I wondered why, so I looked back at them. I detected a small movement coming from beneath me; I looked down and saw the boys who were insulting me sprawled on the floor, groaning. I only learned after, that I had whipped up from where I was sitting, book falling from my lap, and had somehow managed to flip them in some format of martial arts. Nobody talked to me after that, so I never had the chance to freak out again. After a few years, most people forgot about it, but I was still treated like a guitar in a wind instrument shop, like an abomination.

I let out a sigh; it felt nice to be excited about school for once. I looked over at the boy besides me and he looked back and made a funny face. I cracked up laughing and he joined me, we laughed the rest of the walk and he finally had to tap me on the shoulder to point out that the school was right in front of us. I turned to face him,

"Thanks so much, I never would have gotten here if you didn't help." He smiled at me widely, not as wide as Natsu mind you; his smile was more… charming than Natsu's.

"Don't mention it, I was glad to help. My walks have been getting rather lonely; this was a nice change from the norm." I giggled, he could say that again. I heard loud footfalls behind me; I barely turned around when Gray and Natsu whammed into me.

"I win!" Natsu exclaimed, breathing heavily,

"What nonsense are you spouting piglet? It's obvious that I was the winner!" Gray panted

"umm guys," I piped in "I hate to interrupt, but I think that I've had falling on my butt for one day, SO COULD YOU PLEASE GET OFF OF ME?" they jumped up to their feet, mumbling incoherent apologies. My new friend held out a hand to help me up, I thanked him and took it, dusting the dirt of my pants. Gray finally spoke again,

"Come on, we have to take you to the principal and get your timetable," he grunted, grabbing my hand and dragged me off in the direction of the main office. I looked back at the boy with the ginger hair,

"Thanks for everything" I called out, "but I still don't know your name,"

"Likewise," he replied, and I laughed again.

"Lucy." I yelled, He smiled that dazzling smile of his again.

"Loke. I saw him wink as I was pulled into the foyer of the school, and heard him call out, "hey Lucy! I can tell your future, and it's us hanging out!" I smiled inwardly. because I still couldn't tell whether he was hitting on me or not.

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><p>please review guys, tell me whether you liked or not<p> 


	13. Chapter 13- First day of school

Hello my readers! i hope that your not mad for having to wait so long, but i wasnt particularily into this chapter so it was a little harder to write. i want to thank the reviewers i had for the last chapter:

oshirajinda: thank you soo much for reviewing last chapter! it makes me feel happy inside! (aye?)

although it does make me feel sad that i've only had one review for last chapter and fourteen for all fifteen... well. thanks for adding my story to your favorites to those who have, i appreciate it.

and i was wondering if some of you guys could help me with my summary? i dont think that its quite up to standard... i could use the help of some fellow writers in my quest to get more readers! oh. and i decided to make this story in Gray's POV again, just because it felt right. to the disclaimer!

disclaimer: what do you think?

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><p>Gray POV<p>

I pulled Lucy down the corridor, still holding on to her hand; not daring to let go in case I lost her again. I felt really guilty. It was all dragon breath's fault though; he was the one who suggested that he was faster than me, so of course I had to prove him wrong. It wasn't until we made it to the school that I remembered that we were showing Lucy where it was, but when I turned back around to look for her I saw Loke chatting her up; damn ladies' man. I felt jealousy rise up from inside of me. Being the introvert I am, I found myself grabbing onto Lucy's arm, pulling her into the school to the office.

"Gray, let go of my arm, you're hurting me." I whipped around to look at Lucy, dropping her arm like it was made of fire. I could see a large red mark where my hand was, I didn't realize I was holing on so tightly. "Geez Gray, what's up with you today?" she asked, rubbing her arm. I looked down, a frown on my face, was I really acting that strangely?

"Nothing; hot head was just being more annoying than usual." That seemed to be a normal enough response because she rolled her eyes and didn't speak again until we reached the office;

"Sooo, what do I do now?" I took her hand (gently this time) and led her towards the principal's desk.

"Yo, old man! Lucy's here." Lucy looked at me with shock,

"How can you be so disrespectful?" I shrugged

"That's what everyone calls him."

"That doesn't mean its right!" she argued. Determination in her eyes. I opened my mouth to retort but…

"Ahem" we both jumped back a few steps, "thank you," I had totally forgotten that the old man was sitting right in front of us. "Now, I see that we have a new-comer. What was your name again young lady?" Lucy just kind of stood there for a few seconds, staring at the minuscule man in front of her. I didn't blame her; that had been my first reaction to him as well. But she soon regained her composure,

"Lucy Heartfillia sir, and, may I guess that you are the principal of this school? It is a pleasure to meet you." I looked at the principal who was trying his hardest not to smile.

"You have guessed correctly my dear, now, may we stop talking like we're the king and queen of England?" I gave a bark of laughter, which earned me a nasty look from Lucy. The old man chuckled, "anyways Lucy, I would prefer to be called something a little less formal such as Makarov, or as Natsu and Gray call me; old man or gramps." I gave her a look of triumph; she stuck her tongue out at me,

"With all due respect sir, I don't think I would feel comfortable calling you something so disrespectful." Makarov gave a sigh.

"Then just call me what you want to call me, that's the easiest solution to this problem. Now back on topic, since you are new to Fairy Tail High I think that we'll need someone to show you around some." I perked up at this,

"Why not me gramps? I'm already friends with her and it would make your job easier." He gave me a stern look

"If I have my facts straight Gray, you and Natsu already had the privilege to show Lucy the way to get to school did you not?" I looked at the ground, preferring to not answer the question, "I'm afraid that you might lose her again today, and we can't have her being late to her classes, it would give a bad impression on her teachers. No, she'll have someone else give her a tour." He picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers, then he called a name over the intercom; "Loke Lion to the office please." I wanted to shout out in protest, Loke was nothing but trouble. Besides, who has a last name like 'Lion?'

"Oh" Lucy exclaimed "I met him this morning, he seemed very nice." The old geezer gave a smile

"Yes he certainly is, but also a bit of a womanizer."

"I can see that," Lucy said, looking towards the door where many fan girls were clinging onto Loke like their lives depended on it.

"now, now ladies, I promise that ill have more time for you later on today, but I just can't ignore my current duties now can I?" ugh, just listening to him made me sick. He walked into the room, "you called principal M?" he shot a glance at Lucy

"Yes Loke I did, I was wondering if you could show Lucy here around the school for the next few days. I understand that you're in almost all of her classes." The perverted lion's eyes flashed at this,

"Of course sir, it would be an honor to have such a beautiful lady by my side." Lucy's face turned an adorable shade of pink, wait... Just so we're clear, the only reason I didn't want Loke showing her around was because she was my friend and I didn't want to see her get hurt. ya... that was it. Nothing more.

"Now off you three go, the bell is about to ring. You three are in the same homeroom, bye bye, have a nice day children!" The old man waved us out of his office.

When we arrived at the classroom Lucy saw Natsu and Erza and went to greet them. I took this opportunity and pinned Loke to the wall.

"I understand that I don't have a say whether you show Lucy around or not, but if you do anything to hurt her then you don't want to know what I will do to you." He smirked at me

"It sounds like you're her lover Gray, has the icy heart of Gray Fullbuster finally been melted?" I was taken aback. With my grip weakened, he pulled out of my grasp and walked towards the door. "If you do like Lucy in that way Gray, I would hurry up and tell her, or else I'll take her for myself." On that note, he entered the classroom and was once again swarmed by his many adoring fans.

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><p>hope this chapter was good! about the 'lion' thing, does anyone know what Loke's real last name is? i couldn't figure it out... but i thought that this worked well enough. although i would still like to know for future reference.<p>

REVIEW!


	14. Chapter 14- The begining of my problems

... you guys are probably i little annoyed that i didn't update sooner... ummm. awkward... anyways... please review. i always need it, i always try to write my stories the way i like to read other's so i hope it fits your tastes... and since I'm not really a high schooler yet, i wasn't sure what schedules are like and things of the like so i had to base it on junior high stuff. and uuuggghh finals start in 2 weeks .

thanks so very much to the people who did review. it means alot!

To edolucy: thanks for the suggestion, but since i already started with 'Lion' I think I'm sticking with it for now.

to Snowdrop03: thanks, i always like your input (can't wait for the next Hollow chapter) i tried to describe the setting more...but it didn't really work out as well as i hoped...

to dragonzftw: i always found stories with denial the more interesting ones, or sometimes the ones where they don't know that they are in love... and usually i find Loke and Gray best friends as well but i couldn't think of anyone else that would fit the part as well as Loke did in this particular story.

to oshirajinda: thanks, when i was deciding the name i considered Leo, but i though Lion sounded right.

to anonymous: thanks, i didn't even notice that on my summary! i think that might help just a bit if anything =3

Thank you my nice reviewers and those who have signed up for alerts, it makes me feel special ^_^

disclaimer: i do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. although it might be fun if i did... and i think we all know what i would do =3

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><p>After I entered the classroom I noticed that Gray and Loke were lagging behind, it seemed like Gray took Loke aside to discuss something. I made a movement to exit the room again but Natsu enveloped me in another one of his bear hugs and pulled me over to a group of students. Sitting behind one of the many desks in the room was a girl with sky blue hair; which was held up by a bright orange headband. She seemed to be engrossed in the book lying on the desk top, 'she must be a book worm like me' I thought. Natsu pointed at the girl and said,<p>

"Alright Lucy, this is Levy McGarden. The resident bookworm of the school." Levy waved a hand lazily, not even lifting her head from her page, I giggled. So this must be the 'total bookworm' Gray mentioned yesterday. I would be sure to get her to read my book when I finished it, that is… if I ever finished it… Natsu ripped me from my ponderings and brought my attention to a boy sitting on top of the desk next to Levy. He looked older than us, at least by a year. He also had blue hair and dark eyes that seemed to pierce right through me, but his most prominent feature was defiantly the detailed red tattoo that trailed the right side of his face. His overall appearance gave him a bold bad boy look. "This-" Natsu began "is Jellal Fernandes." The boy looked at me and smiled

"Yo," the smile lightened his face a bit, he was actually rather handsome… that was when I noticed Erza standing beside him. She was giving him a face I never would have expected her to give anyone, it was one of… how else can I express it but… well… love? She looked so different with that expression that had to stifle a laugh. Erza looked at me and wiped the grin off her face, realizing where she was staring.

"Jellal" Erza poked him on the shoulder, "we have to go now, class is about to start." Jellal grunted in agreement and got up off the desk.

"See ya guys later." As they walked towards the door Gray stormed into the room and almost crashed into Jellal, but managed to dodge him and tripped over a chair. Someone broke out in laughter; I looked at the back of the room and saw Loke holding his stomach, laughing his head off. His fan girls; not wanting to feel left out started to laugh with him, causing a chain reaction throughout the classroom. So pretty soon the entire class was laughing and pointing at Gray. There was a loud _thud_ beside me; I looked down to see Natsu literally rolling on the floor laughing. Gray's face was turning a funny pinkish colour, I walked up to him and held out a hand, he took it reluctantly, dusted off the back of his pants and walked off to his seat without a word.

Homeroom went by quickly, it didn't feel like the homeroom I was used to growing up in. for one, instead of the strict Mr. Briers who almost seemed to live at the school, our teacher wasn't even present. I asked Natsu about it and he said that the teacher went to many meetings like the principal because of his influence on the town. So everyone pretty much did what they wanted to until the next bell rang. As I was picking up my belongings Loke snuck up behind me and grabbed my waist, I dropped my things back onto the desk and squealed in surprise. He laughed at my reaction, but didn't let go, out of the corner of my eye I saw Gray give him a glare and stomp out of the room. I wondered what had happened in the hallway earlier that would make Gray so mad with Loke.

Loke took me down the hallway to my next class. As we walked down the hall I noticed just how many classrooms there really were, all the doors seemed to be custom made for the particular class that was held in it. I looked at our schedule, I had Art class first but since Loke was in a different class he walked me to the door and told me he would pick me up at the end of the period. I looked at the design on the door to the art room, it was painted a vibrant orange and had many different colours splattered randomly against the smooth wood. I walked into the classroom and took a seat at the back near the wall, the teacher came in shortly after; he had a… larger body type, and was wearing a simple white smock and a large floppy hat that covered a head of bushy orange hair that was not unlike the colour of the door. The overall appearance was quite amusing to look at. The teacher's name was Mr. Jonah but everyone just called him Reedus, (I still couldn't believe how informal the students were to the teachers.) The art class went rather smoothly; luckily for me the class was just starting a new project so I wasn't behind in anything. The project was a simple one; we had to create a collage with any theme we wanted. Deciding what my collage was going to be was an easy task; I would fill it with my favorite things; stars and the pictures that they made in the night sky. Everyone was busying themselves with cutting out pictures for their project, I myself had collected several magazines from the box at the front of the classroom and was cutting out every star or relating picture I could find. It was quite fun to look and find the pictures I needed, I was talking to a girl beside me about the best way to make the collage pleasing to the eye when a pair of scissors came whizzing towards me. I screamed and jerked my head to the side as the sharp projectile lodged itself in the wall directly behind me. The room went dead silent, then one boy started to laugh, it was almost like someone had told him an extremely funny joke. As soon as everyone else in the room saw the boy laughing they turned away from us and started up their conversations again, pretending that nothing happened. I was extremely confused, I turned to look at Mr. Jonah but he was so engrossed in his painting that, as it turned out, he didn't even notice what had just happened. I looked at the boy who had thrown the scissors; he had spiky blonde hair that tufted in the middle of his forehead which led my eyes to the lightning shaped scar tracing the side of his face. He gave me an amused stare and started to chuckle again, glancing at the scissors planted firmly in the wall. For the first time since I arrived in Fairy Tail, I didn't feel safe.

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><p>Just as he promised, Loke was waiting at the door to take me to my next class.<p>

"Hey there." He waved and took my arm "ready to go?" I nodded, still a little shaken up from what had just occurred. Loke didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary and led me down the hall, from the corner of my eye I saw the boy walk out of the room, the rest of the students making spacefor him to get by. He turned to face me; I gave a start and urged Loke to walk faster. I could hear him laughing from down the hall, it sent an unpleasant jolt down my spine, I shuddered. "Are you cold Lucy?" Loke's voice brought me out of my thoughts I looked up at him.

"Huh?"

"You're shivering." I shook my head,

"No, there was just a draft." He gave me a kind look and shrugged off his jacket, placing it over my shoulders.

"Well, here anyway, we don't want you catching a cold now." I looked up at him with wonder, how could someone be so kind? Suddenly I felt like someone was watching us, I whipped around and saw someone dash around a corner. The day was just getting stranger and stranger.I didn't know it then, but my problems had only begun.

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><p>Please review, and i hope to update another chapter soon. ^_^*<p> 


	15. Chapter 15- My haven is breached

well... this is...awkward... i.. actually don't have an excuse for not updating... other than my computer finally decided to commit suicide... right in the middle of me writing this chapter the first time... soo...ya... i hope that this chapter is good enough... I'm trying really hard to finish writing these chapters as well as i can and as fast as i can... I'm so inconsistant... I should make myself some deadlines...

these reviews made me feel good when i revieved them ^_^ thanks you guys!

snowdrop03: It's good to know that you think the description improved! I tried to toy with it a bit ^_^ and i suppose you'll just have to read this chapter to figure out who is stalking her won't you? i love how you got it was Laxus! i was trying to describe him as much as possible but not disclose his name ^_^

oshirajinda: I'm happy to know it sounded enough like a highschool. It's hard to write about highschool students when you're not actually in highschool -_-'

fairy tail fan: sorry I didn't update soon like you asked... but i hope this makes it better?

disclaimer: just hope that you like this and read the actual Fairy Tail (which is not made by me) (theres a movie coming out this August! \^0^/)

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><p>It seemed like the blonde haired boy was everywhere I was. I would see him on my way to class and during lunch, which would result in me, instead of eating in the cafeteria with everybody else, eating in the stairwells and isolated hallways. And as it would turn out, it seemed he even walked the same way as me to and from school. So everyday after school I would try to get home either early or late, all in a desperate attempt to avoid the boy. But despite my efforts, I still saw him; every time I would go home late, he would too. The same thing would happen when I left earlier. Most of the time I would end up diving into the flower bushes that surrounded the park and stayed there until he passed by. This would happen so often, Levy started to ask me what perfume I was using. I finally got so fed up I stopped going home after school; instead I would head to the guild first with the rest of the gang. This worked for about a week, then one afternoon...<p>

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><p>It was Friday after school and we all (as in me, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Jellal and Levy) were sitting around our favourite table, laughing about the events of the day.<p>

"I still can't believe-" gasped Natsu, "your face when I-" he broke out in a fit of laughter, unable to continue. Gray was glowering at him, his arms crossed over his chest.

"The only reason you got to see my face like that was because you put a friggin piece of hot coal on my chair you stupid fire demon!" he spat. I giggled, replaying the clever prank in my head and remembering the hilarious face that Gray had made. It was like a cross between fear, surprise and something related to the monkey family. In other words it just might have been one of the funniest things I had ever seen. Gray turned to glare at me, his face was a mask of pure fury; it wiped the smile right of my face and replaced it with one of shock and fear. Gray seemed surprised at my reaction; he stopped glaring and turned away. Even though Gray seemed extremely upset I couldn't help but laugh in my head. After a few minutes the humour of the prank wore down and we moved onto other topics of conversation, such as the strangeness of the teachers, what projects we were working on and what we were going to do for the rest of the weekend. To me it was if I had always known these people, like I never had endured through the pain and sorrows of my life. I was always so busy with school work and having fun with my new friends I hardly even thought about my father or Gajeel anymore. But I often thought about Wendy… I hoped that she was coping with the hardships she must have been facing. I was brought out of my thoughts when Mira brought us our drinks, we thanked her and started to sip the cool (excluding the hot chocolate that Natsu was drinking) beverages as we talked. Natsu started to joke around; impersonating various students, teachers and random people from the town, making us all laugh. He was in the middle of doing one of the principal when I excused myself to go to the bathroom.

I walked down the room to the bathroom, which was on the wall beside the front door. I entered and did what I needed to do then washed my hands and left. The moment I opened the door I saw the person who drove me to come here today, still looking as scary as always, his face no more than 6 inches away from mine.

I stood there. Frozen in place. Not daring to move. He bent down slightly and... blew softly in my face. Surprised; I screamed loudly and covered my head.

I heard the shuffling of seats as my friends rushed over to see what had happened. I opened an eye to see what was going on. The boy's smirk had been replaced by a sneer, he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the building. I tried to resist but I was no match for his grip, I made a mental note to take a self-defence class. He dragged me down the unusually empty street and into a dark alleyway. I was terrified out of my wits; I didn't know what was going on or what he wanted with me. I closed my eyes and waited. I felt the air shift as he moved closer; he put his face beside mine and whispered softly in my ear,

"See you around huh?" he turned on his heel and walked back out of the alley. I opened my eyes and sunk to the ground. That was where I sat until Erza found me. She picked me up bridal style and carried me back to my apartment. She laid me on my bed and went back to the guild to tell the rest of the gang that I was safe and resting, seeing that I was in no mood to talk about what had happened. The moment I heard the door close I broke; letting the tears flow down my face in uncontrollable sobs. I guess I just wasn't as strong as I thought I was.

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><p>I apologize for the shortness of this chapter...it makes no sense since I've had so much time to write... but I've edited some of the earlier chapters together so they aren't so short.<p>

I've also added some details into chapters 1 and 3, so please look for them and tell me what you think ^_-*

I hope to update soon. I have a plan for the next chapter.


	16. Chapter 16- Natsu's house and the book

**Hi-lo my fellow humans. I REAAAALLLY wanted to finish this chapter fast to make up for my last..."break." But unfortunately; Writer's block doesn't care about what I want. Anyway... I apologize. Hope you guys like my chapter... Although I'm not especially proud of it...**

**(I'm starting to wonder if the reason I've been having the 'dreaded block', is becuase of all the apples I'm eating. (I love apples) I'm eating them like Ryuk! ^_^*)**

**disclaimer: I only needed to do one...But for reference. check my disclaimers from previous chapters.**

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><p><strong><em>Gray POV<em>**

Lucy refused to talk to us after what had happened, whatever it was. When we had gone to visit her she refused to talk about it; so we left the matter alone. I was worried about her...as was everyone else, of course. The next day we went to visit her at her house; to check up on how she was doing. She was perfectly happy to see us, laughing along with all our jokes, even the bad ones Natsu made. But when we saw her again at school on Monday, she looked… well…downright awful. Her face was pale and splotchy, her eyes had dark shadows under them and she kept shaking and looking over her shoulder. Something was off about this. I had to figure out what had happened on Friday that had her so shaken up to be at school.

My plan was a simple one. I was going to follow Lucy around for the rest of the day and see if I could find the reason.

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><p><strong><em>Lucy POV<em>**

I knew my friends were worried about me. How could they not be? I was acting like I was hiding from the bogeyman. Which I may as well have been doing… he was terrifying enough. I've been afraid of people before in my life; my father, bullies at school, but I was mostly afraid of those monsters that would appear on television late at night. Those monsters would always make me run to my room and dive under my bed covers for protection. When I got a little older, mother told me those monsters were only actors in costumes and make-up. They weren't nearly as scary after I learned that they were real people with real names.

This boy was like a television monster himself, the only problem was that he was lacking the T.V screen... and a name. After all this time I still didn't know his name. This made the problem a hundred times worse; it reminded me that he wasn't some actor acting like some creepy goon; that he was the real deal. I sat down on a bench to rest, my legs hurt from running; I had seen my personal monster on the way to school, so I sprinted the rest of the way. My head rested against the wall; the cold stone cooling my warm brow.

"May I join you?"

Surprised; I slowly lifted my head a fraction. Relieved that the eyes I met were not cold grey in color, but a deep black, covered with a pair of tinted blue sunglasses. I nodded and felt vibrations on the bench as Loke sat down beside me. Then, all of a sudden, despite my exhausted condition and rapidly beating heart, my blood ran cold; once again feeling like someone was watching at me. I jumped up from where I was sitting a looked around. It was the strangest thing, almost every day I felt as if someone was watching me.

I couldn't see anyone around the area, though I still felt that someone was staring at me... It was weird, but today it felt like there were eyes watching me from two separate directions... I shook my head at how ridiculous the situation was and looked over at Loke, who was staring at his hand, poised over where mine was moments before. He shoved it into his pocket, looked up at me and smiled, showing off all of his straight, white teeth. I gave him a weak smile and sat back down. We stayed there until the bell rang; just sitting and talking about nothing in particular. And although the stares seemed to intensify, I felt a better than I had all morning. My friends seemed to notice, because they looked less worried and we joked and laughed like we did on Friday. Everything seemed just perfect again, and then I realized that I once again had art class first. My heart sunk into my stomach and I could almost feel it eroding in the acid.

As I walked down the hallway I kept thinking of all the terrible things that might happen to me. As I opened the bright orange door, I took a deep breath and looked at the seat where the boy was sitting last time. But instead of seeing the boy with the lightning scar, I saw a gentle looking girl with black hair. I exhaled the breath I didn't know I was holding and grabbed a seat near the front of the room. The class was half over without a hitch. A smile blessed my face when I realized that the boy probably wasn't going to show up today. But, unfortunately, my hope was short lived. Because no later than the thought had graced my mind, the door opened and he stepped into the room. The frown re-appeared on my face and the bad mood came with it. I lowered my head and stared at the table, avoiding eye contact. I heard his footsteps come closer and closer, I turned away from the source of the noise only to see that there was an empty chair beside mine. My breath caught in my throat. I franticly tried to push the seat under the table, praying that he didn't already see it. My efforts to hide the empty chair were fruitless; the boy stopped beside the table and grabbed my hand. The contact sent shocks up my arm, and it wasn't the nice kind of shock either; my arm stung unpleasantly as if it had fallen asleep, only intensified. I pulled my hand away from his and rubbed it, trying to rid my arm of the prickly feeling. He smirked and sat down. This was the closest I had ever been, it made me uneasy. I pulled out my notebook and started to doodle, trying to ignore the fact that the blonde haired demon was leering at me. After a while I drifted off into my own little dream world, when I snapped out of it I realized I was still sketching. I looked at my picture and gasped; I had drawn a picture of a monster that I had often had nightmares about as a child. I slammed my notebook shut and sighed, wondering if I should see some kind of psychiatrist. I felt a pull from the side of my head, I glanced over and saw the boy (I should really learn his name) tugging on my hair. He stared at me.

"You should put your hair up. It looks better that way." The bell rang and I jumped up, grabbed my things and ran out the door. It wasn't that I didn't feel safe this time…more like…I felt...invaded. I've never had a boy touch me so intimately before, and I didn't like it. It felt…wrong.

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><p>The rest of the day felt relativity normal, in other words: I didn't see the boy again.<p>

At least, not in person. After school, instead of going to the guild as we usually did, Natsu invited us to visit his home. And as expected, it was a mess; clothes strewn across the floor, bits of leftover food everywhere, and I thought I detected the scent of a rotten fish. Since Erza didn't feel that the house was decent enough to support human life (even if that life was only a teenage boy and his cat) so she had us clean the entire house. When she deemed the area clean enough she allowed us to rest and continue our evening. I slumped onto the couch (where I had earlier found the rotting fish *gag*)

"Hey Lucy!" Levy called me over, waving a thin book in the air. "look at what I found, last years yearbook!" I perked up, suddenly not as tired as I thought.

"Let me see!" I requested, reaching for the book. Levy handed it to me and I skimmed through the pages eagerly. A flash of pink caught my eye and I stopped flipping and saw a picture of Natsu, looking overall like he did now; scarf, pink hair, impossibly wide smile, except, perhaps less angular features. I chuckled, my eyes scanning the page. "Look, there's Levy, and the girl I talk to regularly in french class and..." I stopped speaking and squinted, bringing the book closer to my face. Everyone crowded around me, wondering what I was looking at, when I suddenly popped back up, breaking into peels of laughter, pointing at one of the pictures. Natsu bent over to get a closer, he glanced at where I was pointing and fell over backwards laughing, clutching his stomach as he tried to form a proper sentence.

"I-I remember th-that!" he choked out, " h-he fell asleep and provided me with the opportunity of a life-time!" Confused, everyone else looked down at the book. There, posing for his picture, was Gray (shirtless of course) unaware that on his face Natsu had drawn cat whiskers and a mustache with a little matching beard. Gray shook his head sadly.

" I was wondering, at the time, why the photographer kept smirking." That did it; soon everyone was holding their sides, trying to contain their laughter. I wiped a tear from my eye as I continued to read through the book. I saw Jellal standing in the courtyard with Erza (who looked as intimidating as always) and, oh look! Mr. Jonah only thin... my... what happened? I chuckled to myself, turning to the next page. But what was printed on that paper wiped the smile off my face. My eyes widened. There was a nameless (I wondered if the world was against me learning his name) picture of my blonde haired monster staring up at me with emotionless grey eyes.

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><p>Hope you guys liked it. next chapter is started... kinda... Ill try to update as soon as possible, but I'm only able to get internet oh so often because the world is against me getting any of my own. luckily my neighbor's neighbor didn't bother to put a password on their wi-fi =]<p>

hope you guys will give me lots o' reviews here ^_^* look down and type in that little ol' box.


	17. Chapter 17- Deja-Vu

**So... I'm typing up this chapter at school because my new laptop won't be arriving for another few weeks and it is practically impossible to type on my tablet. So until it arrives I will be attempting to finish this chapter during my lunch break. It's actually really hard to look innocent to my friends when I keep grinning at what I'm typing. And they keep trying to look at my monitor -_- they shall never know that I write fan fiction. They will either use it against me to make sure that I will never get a boyfriend or they will try to make me stop writing because they think it's weird. I'm not exactly fond of either idea. But enough of my teen angst, on with the show! (/^_^)/**

**Sorry but I don't think that there will be another chapter out by Christmas... Sorry!**

**Disclaimer: Just cause I feel like it: I will never own Fairy Tail. I only have the plot and the characters that I make: which- as I said once before- all seem to be evil.**

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><p>Gray POV<p>

I moved my head back slightly so that my eyes could focus properly on the picture. I immediately recognized the smug grin that was printed on the page. I scowled,

"That's Laxus Dreyar" I spat; disgust lacing my voice; the name felt slimy on my tongue. I raised my head above the book to ask why she wanted to know who this jerk was. But the instant I saw the bright smile on her face, how her eyes glittered with satisfaction, I stopped short; the frown melting off my face. I said nothing more about the picture; afraid that I might say something to upset her mood and, once again, send her into a ghost-like depression.

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><p>Lucy POV<p>

"I KNOW HIS NAME!" I kept shouting this into my pillow, unable to contain the euphoria that was dancing in my chest.

After we all had our laughs and everyone started to feel the prickle of sleep behind their eyes, we all got up to leave. We thanked Natsu for letting us hang out in his house and Erza told him to 'not let the bed bugs bite.' There was a voice in the back of my head that told me she meant that literally... she was the one who cleaned his room...

I had managed to hold in my excitement until I stepped through my own doorway. It had built up so fast that I ran around my apartment like a hyper monkey, giggling like crazy. But I eventually collapsed on my bed, the exhilaration of the moment finally wearing down. I sighed; relieved that my monster finally had a name: Laxus Dreyar. How funny it sounded, I giggled. As I buried myself in blankets I was thinking how much easier it was going to be to go to school. I was being naive. I thought that my life was going to become magically better just because I knew that boy's name. I should have known that life wasn't that simple.

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><p>The weekend was fabulous; the world seemed to do everything to create my perfect day: clear skies, gentle breeze and it was unusually warm. I took it as a sign that Monday would be just fine, in other words: the "Laxus Dreyar" situation would be solved. I don't know why I thought something so foolish was true. But I did.<p>

Since I didn't have art class at all that day my easily distracted mind was focused on other topics. Such as: Where was the harsh stare- which was trained on my back- coming from? Thankfully the stare seemed to have once again reduced to one set of eyes. But it was still just as creepy.

I realized this when I received a letter from Loke during Lunch; It was taped to the front of my locker. It was folded neatly in a bright green envelope which was sealed with a heart sticker. I can truthfully say that I was... curious to the peculiar behaviour that Loke was showing with this letter. The letter itself was typed on a computer and was quick and to the point. It read:

_Lucy, I need to see your beautiful face as soon as possible, Your presence seems to brighten up the room and I need the warmth it brings._

_-Loke_

It was strange, I admit, but I didn't question it. So I finished all my classes -which were more boring than usual I might add- and started to climb the steep steps. A vague sense of deja-vu was running around in the back of my head, but I shrugged it off and continued my journey. As I was wondering why there were so many steps to the roof I started to feel oddly nervous, although I wasn't sure why. But when I made it to the top and walked through the door I immediately realized why I was feeling so paranoid. As I stared at the group of girl that huddled in front of me I inwardly groaned at how stupid I was for believing that the letter was from Loke. How could I have fallen for this trick a second time? It was even the same type of location! A tall brunette pushed through the crowd and stood at the front, obviously the leader of the idea. She grinned,

"Glad to see that you received the note." I rolled my eyes,

"Nope, I just coincidentally happened to be on the roof after school for no reason." I pulled out the attitude that I usually reserved for the bullies at my previous school. I was used to people trying to push me around, but I didn't expect it here, this was supposed to be my safe place. The brown-haired girl sneered,

"Don't speak to me like you're better than us! We were here long before you!" I resisted the urge to roll my eyes a second time; I felt that twice in a row would be tacky.

"Considering that I only arrived in Fairy tail a few weeks ago I would think that would be obvious." She sneered and snapped her fingers. I gave in at the cliché and rolled my eyes again, not caring how 'tacky' it might look. She turned to the girl that had maneuvered through the gaggle of girls,

"I had Sakura follow you and Loke ever since you arrived here," she held her hand palm up to the small mousey girl. Sakura meekly placed a rectangular piece of paper in the boss-girl's hand. "Here is proof enough to make all of these girls hate your very existence." My mouth fell open as she held up the glossy paper which had a photograph of me and Loke; He had his hand poised over mine as I rested my head against the wall, his eyes held a strange emotion that I couldn't place. I snapped my mouth shut as she pulled out several more candid shots of me and Loke: Him walking me to class, walking to the guild with me and him giving me his jacket on the first day of school. My eyes widened at the thought that I had a stalker for the past few days. Ms. Leader lady must have thought my eyes getting larger meant that I was about to cry. She was quite wrong of course, I wasn't intimidated at all; I was furious. What gave her the notion that she had the right to spy on me? I opened my mouth to yell at her but she beat me to it,

"We have been chasing after Loke since junior high; we have been the ones who follow him everywhere; adore his every step, word and the air he breathes! And then you come here and think that you can take him away from us?" She turned to the crowd of girls- It was at this time that I noticed that Loke's fan girls must have taken shifts or days to worship him, because I've seen most of these girls- just not together- swarming around him. - "Will we stand for this?" She called out,

"NO!" they roared,

"Is this acceptable?"

"NO!" they repeated,

"And so what are we going to do about this?"

"Eliminate the competition!" They exclaimed. I immediately thought of a bad robot movie I watched once. But I still shuddered at the threat, it didn't sound very promising. The girls all started to walk towards me and I stepped back, this repeated until I was up against the wall. I frantically reached for the doorknob and tried to turn it. When it refused to open I started to panic. Nobody would be here after school so nobody would come to my rescue if these girls decided to go too far. I took a deep breath and pulled my hands into fists, poised in a defensive stance. The crazy fan-girls drew closer and I raised my hands in front of my face. Just as the first was close enough to reach out and touch me the door suddenly opened behind me and someone roughly pulled me through.

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><p><strong>I'm not proud of this chapter. I was pretty much out of ideas... so this is what I came up with... sorry. I'll try to update sooner.<strong>

**Btw, happy 'the-world-didn't-end-what-the-heck-happened?' day!**

_**and also... how come i only got like 2 reviews?! i would like a few more...**_


	18. Chapter 18- Realization?

**Hi guys! Sorry it took so long... but I have posted another chapter of 'Crushed' and I am starting this new Happy/Carla fic with Lilitraum, I think it will be fun ^_^* so when it comes out please read it! **

**on with the fic, and promise to review! or else there will be some table flipping (╯°□°）╯ ┻━┻**

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><p>Gray POV<p>

"That stupid, stupid girl!" I cursed under my breath as I ran up the worn stairs. I had found the opened letter outside of Lucy's locker when I had gone to pick her up. Loke would never write something that corny, especially if he wasn't dating the girl. I stumbled on a step, what if they were dating? Would he write that kind of letter then? Was I about to barge in on a romantic moment between the two of them? My heart pounded louder in my chest, as if it were motivating the rest of me to stop whatever was happening on the roof; whether it really was Loke or not. I could hear raised voices even before I reached the door; all girls. I swore as I heard the thump of a body make contact with the door in front of me. With blood pumping in my veins I swung the door opened, grabbed the small blonde girl (who was now falling against air) and slammed the door shut behind us; leaving a locked door between us and the gaggle of dangerous fangirls.

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><p>Lucy POV<p>

I *slammed into what felt like a wall and tumbled down the stairs, head over heels, with it. When I reached the bottom I was splayed flat on my back with a person kneeling over me, face inches away from mine. It was too dark to see a face but the build was definitely male. I screamed and thrashed against the body, my elbow successfully making contact with his jaw.

"OW! Jeez Lucy! Calm down would you? You would think you would be used to me saving you by now!" I gasped and stopped squirming immediately.

"Oh Gray! I'm so sorry..." I tentatively reached out and touched his jaw. He jerked slightly under my touch, I could already feel a lump forming. Perhaps I didn't need a self defense class after all. Gray gently removed my hand from his face. When it dropped back to my side he noticeably relaxed, my chest twanged painfully for some reason. He twisted around and sat beside me on the hard concrete, I had to admit that it was more comfortable than having him looming over me. We could still hear my attackers screeching and pounding on the door at the top of the stairs. I chuckled as I stood up from the dirt covered floor.

"Thank you Gray, I suppose I owe you one." He looked at me sarcastically,

"Actually, you owe me several." I felt my ears turning bright pink; thankfully it was still too dark to see anything. I helpfully offered my hand to Gray, who took it gladly. When we moved into the path of a window the light burned my eyes and my eyes started to water on reflex. I tried to look at Gray's face but it was awfully blurry; but, if I wasn't mistaken, he seemed to also be blushing... My heart jumped in my chest, and I quickly rubbed the moisture from my eyes so I could see properly. When I looked up into his face again I realized he wasn't blushing, it was simply the light reflecting off of a red piece of glass. I suddenly felt like my heart shrunk in my chest. Why was my heart giving all these strange reactions to Gray? It never panged, or jumped for anyone else; I was so confused. I thought back to the hundreds of books I had read in my past, And almost immediately skipped over every genre except for medical and romance. Was it possible I was stressed? I read in medical textbooks that stress was one of the main causes for heart attacks and heart failures... But... I didn't have any other symptoms that pointed to that diagnoses. I thought of all the romance books I had ever read, those seemed to point to one possibility Even the fairy tales I had read as a child said that the princess's heart beat faster for her prince, and every other teenage 'chick' book said that the girl's heart pounded loudly when a certain boy was around, or how it hurt when they did something bad to them. I blinked and clumsily stumbled over my own foot. Gray turned the moment I started falling and caught me in his arms.

"Geez, Lucy! Do you have some sort of love affair with the ground or something?" My face heated up as I felt his hands around my waist. I never felt so self-conscious before. Could this mean that I... I quickly slapped Gray's hands away from me and I fell on the floor again.

"Lucy! What are you doing? Seriously, are you _actually_ in love with the floor?" At the word "love" I blushed even harder. Gray sighed at reached out to help me up but I shuffled away from him. He gave me a confused and hurt look, "Did I do something wrong?" I shook my head and stood up.

"You didn't do anything, nothing at all! In fact, everything is just fine! Couldn't be better!" I laughed nervously, almost hysterically in fact. Gray looked at me worriedly,

"Did you hit your head when we fell down the stairs?" I restrained the urge to blush again and took several deep breaths.

"No, I'm fine now... Just relieved that I'm not getting 'eliminated' by dozens of obsessed fangirls I suppose..." Gray looked at me with understanding.

"I can only imagine how scary it must have been for you, Loke's fangirls can be pretty brutal... you should have seen the last girl that tried to date Loke."

"What happened to her?"

"I think you would feel safer if I didn't tell you."

"Oh..." I shuddered at what my over-active imagination came up with, "But I'm not dating Loke; we're just friends!" Gray's face brightened for a millisecond before returning to its normal stoic expression.

"Really? You might want to tell him that." I looked at him

"What do you mean by that?" Gray just chuckled,

"Oh, nothing."

We walked in silence until we reached the office and Gray entered for a moment. When he returned he explained that he told the principal that there were some girls fooling around on the roof and making a lot of noise.

"They won't dare tell him what they were **really** doing on the roof; they would get in much more trouble that way." I chuckled and attacked him with a hug,

"You really are brilliant, you know that?" He stiffened in my arms and I blushed again when I realized what I was doing. I was just about to pull away before he wrapped his long arms around my back and gave me a playful squeeze.

"Who doesn't know that?" He let go and we both laughed at his self-praise. And I thought inside my head what a silly thought I had: How could I have a crush on Gray? And the even more ridiculous thought of him liking me back!" I laughed a bit at myself as we walked to the guild, overall this was a very good day; I learned many things and everything bad turned out in the end. But my smiling eyes turned into wide ones of horror as I saw Laxus Dreyar standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

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><p><em>Hope that was alright... I had another case of writers block... im starting to think its a permanent condition... oh well... <em>

_**PLEASE REVIEW!**__ I had received many more reviews than normal for the last chapter and that made me very happy ^_^* thank you!_


	19. Chapter 19- Run

**_I recently found out that Laxus does not have 'cold grey eyes' but has orange ones... So I'm going to use my mess up to my advantage, you will see what I mean when you start reading._**

**_Also, Night before last I had the best idea for the ending for this story... So the ending is written and I still have to write everything in between... It's like I spoiled the ending for myself..._**

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><p><strong>Gray POV<strong>

Lucy froze beside me - she was doing that a lot recently- I followed her gaze and my eyes met with the dark orange ones of Laxus Dreyar. I instinctively stepped in front of Lucy to shield her.

"I thought he had grey eyes!" she shakily whispered into my back. I frowned, surprised at how scared she sounded, most people were afraid of the big bully's appearance (and overall attitude), but Lucy sounded genuinely terrified. I tried to turn around so I could see her expression, but she wrapped her arms around me and buried her face into my shirt. As she clung to me I could feel her every movement: as she shook in fright, as she nervously shifted her weight every few seconds, as her chest rapidly rose and fell; her breasts hitting my back with every breath- I quickly returned my focus to the main problem at hand,

"What do you want Dreyar?" I called out, despite him being so far away his intimidating presence seemed to slap me in the face. He chuckled, and the mere sound made the hair on the back of my neck and arms stand on end; it was like pure electricity coursing through my veins. I felt Lucy quiver and I began to see red. "I said, WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" He stopped smirking and gave me an almost imperceptible nod. I frowned, confused at the gesture; did he mean he wanted me? What did I do…-. The brute seemed to understand my hesitation and spoke in a bored tone, as if talking to someone of low intelligence.

"The girl, Frosty, I want the girl." I felt the body behind me go still. I whipped around and looked at Lucy. Her face was an unnerving shade of white and her soft chocolate eyes were large and sparkling with tears. Her breathing was shallow and quick and her hands were frozen in fists. I immediately thought back to the almost car accident we had and how she fell into shock. Laxus Dreyar had done the same thing that almost crashing into a brick wall had done. This man had power, and he chose to use it in a way that was less than meritable. I turned back to the thug and opened my mouth.

**Lucy POV**

When Laxus pointed towards me my blood ran hot through my veins. It felt like my skin was blistering from the inside-out. I was expecting Gray to just hand me over. It would make no sense to put himself at risk for someone he hadn't even known for half a year. So when he suddenly stuck his tongue at Laxus and started running mad dash it didn't surprise me. What did, however, was the fact that he grabbed my wrist and half-dragged me with him!

We ran long and hard, it wasn't a bad run; I was quite used to running on my previous attempts to run away from home. After 5 minutes, Gray lost his shirt somewhere. So for the next few blocks I was given the sight of his toned chest heaving from the exertion. I certainly wasn't complaining... But I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel attracted to a friend like this or not. The thought disappeared from my mind as Gray stopped running and I didn't. I ended up being yanked back by my arm and landed on the ground; knocking Gray off of his feet. We both looked at each other from our crumpled positions and burst out laughing.

"Th-that was awe-awesome!" I exclaimed, Gray nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"I haven't felt so alive in so long! Hahaha!" We lay there for a while; panting in desperate attempts to catch our breath. My eyes unconsciously tracking a bead of sweat that trailed down Gray's neck. I swallowed, trying to clear my throat of a mysterious cotton-like substance that suddenly made it's presence known.

"Gray?" I asked, desperate to change the subject of where my mind was headed.

"Yes?"

"I thought... That Laxus's eyes were grey." His expression turned serious at the mention of Laxus,

"Contacts." He grumbled

"What?"

"He wears grey contacts to cover his normal eye color."

"Why would he do that?" He gave me a pointed look,

"Does it look like I care about what Dreyar does and doesn't do?" I shook my head slowly and looked down. Gray sighed and stood up, "C'mon, let's go to the guild." He reached a hand out towards me and I took it, hoisting myself to my feet. My imagination wanted me to believe that Gray's hand lingered on mine for a fraction of a moment more than necessary, but reason dismissed the idea as soon as it was thought. We walked towards the guild, keeping a watchful eye out for Laxus along the way.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Just so you all know. I was not planning on making this chapter so short... But it's been almost... what? 4 months? Heh... Sorry! But I didn't know how to end this chapter! The next one will be better I promise!<span>**


	20. Author's announcement

**I don't know how to say this... I have many ideas and plot lines that I want to use for Escape... But I have no idea how to put it together and I have no will to really try... I don't know... Maybe I'm having some kind of teenager-life-crisis... Because I have quite a few other stories that I want to write for Harry Potter but I feel obligated to finish Escape... But I don't want to update half-ass chapters anymore... I think I'm going to put Escape on hiatus for a bit... If I get into the mood I'll update but at the moment I have no inspiration... **

**I AM SO SORRY! **

**...Truthfully I may be in the mood in a few weeks or mabye even a few days... But for the past few weeks I just haven't really felt that into Escape... Please keep it on your story alerts in the case of when I do update! **

**Thank you for being patient.**

**-Rosiejade**


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